The Montpellier criminal court sentenced two supporters this Thursday to six months in prison for the first and to 140 hours of community service for the second. They were both accused of having thrown a firecracker at Clermont goalkeeper Mory Diaw on October 8, 2023 on the sidelines of a Ligue 1 match.
The court also imposed an 18-month ban on entry into a sports venue with an obligation to score during each MHSC match for the firecracker thrower. Whoever provided him with the firecracker received the same decision, for 12 months.
🚨 INCREDIBLE SCENE IN MONTPELLIER AND SUSPENDED MATCH! 😨
A firecracker, thrown by a Montpellier supporter, exploded at the foot of Mory Diaw.
The Clermont goalkeeper immediately collapsed and was taken away on a stretcher.
All the Clermontois players returned to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/zQBe28ccJ5
— Actu Foot (@ActuFoot_) October 8, 2023
If justice assessed the financial damage due to the MHSC at 10,7888 euros and 4,465 euros for Clermont Foot, it did not rule on the Montpellier club’s request for financial compensation for TV rights of nearly 500,000 euros after falling one place in the rankings and postponed the decision on this point to September 16.
On October 8, the meeting between Montpellier and Clermont was definitively stopped in the 90th + 1 after a powerful firecracker, sent from the stands, exploded very close to Clermont goalkeeper Mory Diaw, while the Héraultais led 4-2 . The Senegalese international had to be evacuated on a stretcher. The match was replayed behind closed doors at the end of November at the Mosson stadium (1-1), and Montpellier was also stripped of a point in the standings by the disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League (LFP).
The pitcher admitted the facts
At the hearing, at the beginning of May, the MHSC lawyer estimated the club’s damage at 515,000 euros: 18,000 euros for the organization of a “replay” behind closed doors, 13,000 for the partial closure of a stand during two matches and above all 484,000 euros to compensate for TV rights that the club did not receive by slipping one place in the ranking after this episode.
A 25-year-old man, with no criminal record and reported to the police as the thrower of the firecracker by other supporters, admitted to having thrown it, but “with his back turned” to the pitch, without aiming at the goalkeeper, to “celebrate the victory » which was taking shape.
He assured that it was his friend and co-accused who had given it to him inside the stadium, which the latter, a 23-year-old apprentice cook, denied, while admitting to having passed firecrackers “from hands in hands” in the toilets during halftime.
