“North Kop: black anger”. Seated in a bar on Place Jules-Ferry, in Lorient, around ten members of Breizh Tango, Celtic An Oriant and Lorient Foot Supporters decided to speak publicly to express their “anger”. With 350 members, these groups from the northern kop were very unappreciative of seeing more than a hundred Merlus Ultras land in the parking lot of the Michel-d’Ornano stadium, in Caen, on Saturday October 5, 2024. “We have the feeling of being taken for idiots,” agrees Jean-Marc Bourgeois of Lorient Foot Supporters. But why so much anger? A little flashback.
“We condemn their violent actions”
On Wednesday October 2, 2024, the disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League (LFP) announced that the Caen visitors’ stand will be closed to Lorient supporters. This sanction comes after disruptions – including the use of a laser pointed at the BeIN Sports cameras – during the Lorientais’ trip to Pau, on September 24, 2024. In fact, since the start of the season, supporters of the clubs of Ligue 2 are grumbling against the new TV programming of the championship introduced by the sports channel. “On this principle, we agree with the Merlus Ultras. Football is on the weekend,” continues Jean-Marc Bourgeois. “On the other hand, we condemn their violent actions. It’s not supporters who do that, they’re Ultras,” continues Marie-Lise Jan, president of Lorient Foot Supporters.
“We have always respected the club’s instructions”
That said, let’s return to the famous trip to Caen. Informed of the closure of the parking lot, some Kops Nord supporters decided to make the trip to the Michel-d’Ornano stadium to support the Merlus. “We couldn’t rent a bus for €2,000. So we organized ourselves, at our own expense, to go to the match, rewinds Jean-Marc Bourgeois. And we bought more expensive tickets than usual.” So when they see Merlus Ultras in the “supposedly” closed enclosure, “anger” rises very quickly. “We have always respected the club’s instructions. But that’s a lot. We feel cheated,” explain the supporters.
The FCL responds
Because, yes, we wonder among the northern kops. “This trip could not have been done like that. The FCL was necessarily aware of their arrival,” they assert. Not being banned from traveling, two buses of supporters indeed reached the city of a hundred steeples, or around 130 people, that Saturday. Faced with this situation, the Calvados prefecture decided – less than two hours before the match – to place them in the stadium’s visitor parking lot. “We are disgusted,” say the supporters, denouncing “a difference in treatment” between their groups and that of the Merlus Ultras.
Contacted by Le Télégramme, the club indicated that it had “canceled the security agents and closed the ticket office” after the closure of the Caen parking lot. “We heard that a trip was being organized two days before. We have had communication with the Caen club and the competent authorities. Point,” explains Arnaud Tanguy, general director of FCL. “We don’t manage the logistics of supporters’ travel,” he adds. It was the prefecture that decided to open the parking lot to them. It is not us, the Lorient club, who have the power over that. I can understand the astonishment of other supporters to see the Ultras in the visitors’ park, but, I repeat, this is a decision of the prefecture.
