On January 17, the League’s disciplinary committee decided to withdraw a firm point from the Ligue 2 standings in Bastia following insults, notably racist, uttered on December 16 during the reception of Quevilly-Rouen (0- 0). That evening, an assistant referee was profusely insulted, leading to the match being interrupted and an announcement from the announcer.
This slip-up came after another, on November 11, during a trip from Bastia to Paris FC (1-0). On December 6, the League’s disciplinary commission sanctioned the Bastia club with a suspended one-point withdrawal as well as the closure of its visitors’ area for two fixed matches “for damage, use of pyrotechnic devices and inappropriate behavior.” racist of his supporters”.
Insufficient resources deployed by the club
“With regard to the measures implemented prior to the incidents by the applicant club, it appears from the file that the Bastia supporter who made the racist remarks against assistant referee no. 2 was part of a group of three supporters who were able to leave their place in the stand to move freely along the handrail and attack assistant referee No. 2 playing on the touchline,” it is notably written in the decision rendered Thursday.
“It must be noted that the measures relied on by the applicant club were at the very least insufficient in that they did not make it possible to avoid this untimely movement, even though three stewards were in the vicinity of the assistant referee victim of racist remarks”, we can still read in the CNOSF decision.
The author of the racist comments has not been identified
The CNOSF also recalls in its decision that “the author of the racist remarks was not apprehended by the Bastia stewards and that the latter was able to leave the stadium without incident” and that “the microphone announcement made by the speaker of the stadium worsened the situation since it was the trigger for an incident, the public reacting with hostile chants against the referees.
Finally, if the CNOSF conciliator “can only approve the preventive measures implemented by the club after the meeting on December 16, 2023 to fight against racism within it”, she regrets that Bastia “waited for the occurrence of such incidents, even though he has already been sanctioned in the past for acts linked to racist behavior adopted by his supporters.”
