Policing pandemonium, pitch invasions, and an obstinate Parisian board had football peering into the French scene with a raised eyebrow – Ancelotti-esque, for all the wrong reasons.
Only 10 months ago, the new UEFA Conference League looked an attractive new platform for underrated Ligue 1 talent Rennes to shine. Messi was wearing a PSG jersey; wing-back underdogs Lens had made their best start ever to a season, going unbeaten for their first six league games – there was certainly promise blooming.
Sadly, French football’s long sought after progression would be flushed away by argument and debate. After a season long saga of fans behaving badly, it would be the authorities’ turn to drag their own reputations, on the biggest stage of them all. Real Madrid’s clinical conclusion to their brilliant Champions League run, against Liverpool, was marred by chaos outside the Stade de France.
The truth was slow to unravel. Kick off had been delayed by half an hour, but why? Those rolling camera shots of disgruntled fans glued to their phones had become too synonymous with panic and disruption as of late. The stadium’s big screen claimed Liverpool fans’ ‘late arrival’ was the issue. On the contrary, reds supporters – who had arrived well before kick off to soak up the atmosphere – provided distressing accounts of a very different story. (via BBC News).
“We got there about 2 and a half hours before kick off, about a 1000 of us were pushed through to one gate that only had 1 turnstile open, so it was just mayhem.”
“It’s his (son’s) first time coming to watch a final and he’s just been pepper sprayed. He’s 11. Look at him, he’s traumatised!”
“It’s an absolute disgrace, I’ve tried asking him (a policeman) in French what’s going on and they just won’t even acknowledge us.”
One only has to repeat those quotes in isolation to think of the worst, rather than what was supposed to be a football-loving family day out.
Judging by the overwhelming video and photo evidence from that ugly evening, Liverpool fans tried to be as safe, compliant and patient as physically possible. Still, perhaps most unfair was UEFA’s loose definition of a ‘late arrival’: suffering fans, nonchalantly sprayed with chemicals as if they were plants in a greenhouse, certainly didn’t fall under this explanation from those in charge. Ironically, the mountain of digital proof mostly broadcasted to social media, wasn’t enough to shake officials into even beginning to fathom what was really unfolding outside.
Since it had become clear that late Liverpool fans wasn’t the evening’s stumbling block, the higher ups had another go at changing the narrative. France’s interior minister Gérald Darmanin (rough equivalent of the home secretary in the UK) gave an excuse, in a press conference as to why police had been so violent:
“40,000 people with a fake ticket, or no ticket, had attempted to enter the stadium.”
Given the unmoving mass of reds fans – steadily increasing from 3 hours before kick off – it’s possible that only a fraction of those ‘fake ticket’ holders could’ve come from that crowd, considering they weren’t even being allowed up to the turnstiles. Liverpool were only allocated 20,000 tickets.
Whilst media and fans were wondering whether to smell a rat here, or to place blame upon local organised crime for the entrance disruption, Real Madrid then weighed in, expressing their own anger towards the distressing events in a press release:
“We understand that what should have been a great celebration of football for all the fans who attended the game turned into unfortunate events that have caused deep outrage around the world.”
“As has been clearly seen in the revealing images offered by the media, many of the fans were violently assaulted, harassed and robbed. Our fans deserve a response and that the relevant responsibilities be cleared up so that situations like the ones experienced are eradicated forever from football and sport.”
“We ask for answers and explanations that determine who was responsible for leaving fans helpless. Some supporters whose general behaviour was at all times exemplary.”
A man more than qualified to give those answers – Didier Lallement, head of policing at the final, issued an apology two weeks afterwards:
“I am fully aware that people acting in good faith, even families, were tear gassed. For this I am very sorry, but there was no other way.”
But was there another way? French police and stadium security staff have had plenty of practice over the last year dealing with fan troubles. Ligue 1 in 21/22 saw a total of 9 match abandonments due to insatiably aggressive supporters, more than the rest of Europe’s top 4 leagues combined.
Marseille hero Dimitri Payet, was struck twice by a missile in the space of 4 months. First by Nice fans in August – which caused a pitch invasion and brawl – and then in November, after he was struck in the head and had to be treated by doctors. Both matches were subsequently called off.
Stadium staff and stewards were barely mentioned, or filmed, during the scary Stade de France ordeal – nowhere to be seen when chaos ensued. A nationwide lack of stewards has burdened all the French domestic leagues this year. The outbreak of the pandemic across Europe saw them (mostly working part-time) look for other alternatives to make vital extra cash due to the music venues and football stadiums being shut down.
With an increasing number of staff leaving the industry, employers have been forced into taking on much less experienced workers instead. Furthermore, unvaccinated people aren’t allowed to work at stadiums in France – another hurdle for the authorities to jump over.
Stewards paid minimum wage , and with no formal training process, don’t always possess the know how – or the motivation – to intervene when trouble occurs or a scenario becomes dangerous.
On top of dire policing, this is exactly what happened in Paris on UCL night, similar to the events at Wembley last summer during the Euros (minus the teargassed children). So many match abandonments and stoppages have happened in Ligue 1 this season purely because staff physically can’t stop a hoard of advancing fans.
But why has France acted as a breeding ground for so much hatred and violence in football? In order to understand why a large portion of French football fans take the phrase: ‘be the eleventh man’ so literally, urban society goes under the microscope first.
Naturally, the country suffered greatly during the COVID-19 pandemic – an already socially divided population being shut away indoors, left to chew away at their frustrations for months on end. For most French football fans, everything else made way for happiness and relief as they could watch live football for the first time in 18 months. For the ultras, for which you’ll find at every Ligue 1 ground, unfinished business was calling – a chance to bare their teeth at bitter rivals; social media back-and-forth can whip up a frenzy like no other.
The lockdowns rubbed salt into France’s long term wounds, re-opening them as socio-economic tensions boiled over. Some supporters were angry, and with nothing but the four walls to voice themselves to during Covid, fan trouble was more prevalent than ever this season, as they returned to stadiums in their droves.
Unlike the Premier League, which first eased socially distanced home fans back into stadiums with a 10,000 capacity, Ligue 1 went from 0 to 100 rapidly. In August 2021, the opening weekend saw seats, which hadn’t seen a single bottom in nearly a year and a half, filled to the brim with excited supporters.
“There have been significant organisational problems, mostly at Nice-Marseille and Lens-Lille (disrupted matches), which were due to the fact that the authorities and the clubs went 18 months without having to organise matches (at full capacity), and lost the hang of it,” – Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe (FSE)
21/22 was a poor advert for French football this year, made worse by the fact that more and more viewers are keeping an eye on it, lateral to the inevitable far-reaching rise of social media. The aforementioned Didier Lallement, and his colleagues must look at other ways to maintain law and order before an important league campaign begins next season.
The powers that be in Ligue 1 are trying – in more profit inducing ways – to further develop the attractiveness of their domestic football. But, they say money blinds you, and many think that Nasser Al-Khelaifi securing the services of Kylian Mbappe until 2025 will further reinforce the stereotype that France is home to a ‘farmer’s league’.
Whilst other clubs – even those qualifying for Europe each year – often sell their best players just to make ends meet, PSG are ready to all out launch the Mbappe project, which will see him earn nearly €1 Million a week. That’s just over what the Rennes, Bordeaux and Nice squads make in just one year. Mbappe will also earn a €100 Million signing on fee.
La Liga president, Javier Tebas, labelled the deal “scandalous.” Known for his rather stringent financial fair play laws in the Spanish first division, Tebas’ rules have benefited a lot of Spain’s smaller teams. Expressing his anger at Mbappe’s renewal, he publicly stated:
“What PSG is doing by renewing Mbappe’s deal with large sums, after giving losses of €700 Million in recent seasons and having a €600 Million wage bill already, is an insult to football.”
It seems inevitable that PSG will continue their current domestic dominance next year, but in football, pre-season optimism always shines through. Marseille have qualified for the 22/23 Champions League, sending out reminders of when they won the tournament in 1993 – still the only French club ever to have won it. Also, Monaco have pocketed a neat €100 Million already through the sale of Aurélien Tchouaméni to Real Madrid, not to mention an extra €35 Million from the Mbappe contract.
However, PSG clearly intend to rebuild a super team, moulding a Galactico style 11 around their loyal star boy, making it much harder for the other competing French clubs to mount any chance of de-throning of them. Even President Macron called the Mbappe in an effort to convince him to stay – impressive.
Whilst a select few believe the only way to bring the Champions League back to France is through PSG, the league’s reputation won’t be made any better by an extra trophy on les Parisiens’ shelf. For now Ligue 1, and France, have to make matches a safe place for supporters to enjoy themselves in order for the country’s football to flourish once again.
