Ligue 1: the start of Saint-Etienne

In the Ligue 1 stands, unrest and disorder have reigned since the start of the season. Numerous incidents have already resulted in the closing of stands, travel bans and other sanctions.

August 8: projectiles in Montpellier

First day, first incidents. The derby between Montpellier and Marseille degenerated in the stands at the end of the match. OM player Valentin Rongier was hit in the head by a bottle, while he was celebrating with his team the goal that allowed his team to regain the advantage (3-2).

Then the match is interrupted with new throws of projectiles. After 12 minutes of confusion, the meeting resumed, then ended with a victory for Marseille. On August 25, the disciplinary committee of the LFP decided to close the two incriminated stands at the Montpellier stadium for three matches.

August 22: clashes in Brittany, lawn invaded and brawl during Nice-OM

After the Breton derby between Rennes and Nantes (1-0), supporters of the two teams try to do battle. The images relayed by social networks show folded barriers, but no direct clash between supporters. Two men will be tried in March 2022 for violence against a security guard.

A new critical threshold was reached during the Mediterranean derby between Nice and Marseille, poster for the third day of Ligue 1. While the “Gym” led 1 to 0, clashes broke out in the 75th minute, when the Marseillais Dimitri Payet is about to take a corner. Hit on the back by a plastic water bottle, the player sends the projectile back to the stand of Nice ultras, some of whom, in reaction, invade the lawn.

Blows are exchanged between supporters, players and members of the management, forcing the referee, Benoit Bastien, to recall the actors to the locker room. After more than an hour and a half of interruption, the meeting is definitively stopped when the referee notices, when restarting the game, the absence of the Marseillais, who refuse to resume.

On September 9, the disciplinary committee inflicts on OGC Nice a withdrawal of two points (including one suspended), as well as the total closed door of its stadium for three matches. Pablo Fernandez, an assistant to Marseille coach Jorge Sampaoli, is suspended until the end of the season for punching a Nice supporter who entered the pitch. The poster will also have to be replayed, on neutral ground in Troyes, on October 27.

September 18: clashes during Lens-Lille

At half-time for the North derby between Lens and Lille, dozens of Lensois supporters invaded the field to go and do battle with Lille’s parking lot, from which several seats were thrown. The clashes, limited by the intervention of the CRS, resulted in six minor injuries.

The kick-off of the second half is delayed by around thirty minutes. The Sang et Or will eventually win, 1 to 0. On September 20, the disciplinary committee sanctions the Lens club with a total closed door of its stadium as a precaution, and closes the parking lot of Lille supporters at the outside.

September 22: “ambush” in Montpellier and clashes after Angers-OM

Before the meeting between Montpellier and Bordeaux, a bus of Bordeaux supporters fell into a “ambush” organized by some of their Montpellier counterparts. The general brawl that ensued left 16 lightly injured, according to an initial assessment.

In Angers, after the match against Marseille (0-0), several dozen Marseille supporters leave the visitor park and destroy equipment before the stewards restore order.

“There was a provocation on the part of the Angevin tribune, with fingers of honor and firecrackers which were sent from the Angevin side towards the Marseillais. The Marseillais responded, it is a classic and stupid scheme, d ‘one side and the other “, deplores Jacques Cardoze, OM’s communications manager, to the press.

October 22: incidents before Saint-Etienne – Angers

Friday, the match between Saint-Etienne and Angers, started one hour late at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. Incidents erupted during the pre-match protocol, several Stéphanois ultras having entered the lawn, sending rockets and other smoke and deteriorating the goal nets, which had to be hastily mended.

During the first warm-up, the kops had deployed banners stigmatizing the coach Claude Puel, the leaders and the players, guilty according to them of the chaos in which their team finds itself, last in the standings.

ASSE risks a severe sanction after these new incidents. The disciplinary committee on Wednesday imposed a suspended two-match closure of the south stand of the stadium after incidents noted during the derby against Lyon on October 3.

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