The sanction is known. This Monday, in Bastia, a man was sentenced to six months suspended prison sentence and a five-year stadium ban for throwing a smoke bomb which hit a player and interrupted the match between Bastia and Red Star on December 5 at Furiani. He must also pay a symbolic euro to the Professional Football League (LFP) and Red Star.
At the stand, the supporter, who was considered detained, admitted the facts, speaking of “a huge stupidity”. “I regretted it the second it happened,” he said. The thirty-year-old was a repeat offender for having been convicted of violence when leaving a night establishment in Nice.
In front of the judges, he explained that he had acted without thinking. “I am a supporter and I watch the match passionately. I was overcome with frustration because we couldn’t score,” he said. The president of the court recalled that this was not his first attempt. He launched a rocket towards the roof of a stand during a Bastia meeting in 2024. The club did not file a complaint and the thirty-year-old was banned from the stadium for several months.
A decision of the LFP disciplinary committee on December 22
The prosecutor had requested an eight-month suspended prison sentence and 250 hours of community service, accompanied by a stadium ban for five years “for a serious disturbance of public order”.
The amount to be paid to the Sporting Club de Bastia will be defined at a civil interest hearing in April. The League and the two clubs had become civil parties.
The pyrotechnic device hit Bradley Danger, one of the Red Star players, in the arm in the 56th minute of play when the score was 0-0, leading to the match being stopped. The disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League has put the case under investigation given the “seriousness of the facts” and will deliver its decision on December 22.
