LOSC Challenges Travel Ban on Supporters for Northern Derby Against Lens

Five days before the Northern derby between RC Lens and Lille, tension is already high among Les Dogues supporters. Banned from traveling by the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, they could be forced to abandon their team for this very important meeting at the Bollaert-Delelis stadium. Dissatisfied, the leaders of LOSC announced to file an appeal against this order and hope to be able to count on its fans.

“LOSC now warns that it formally contests this decision and that it will file an appeal with the competent courts as soon as possible,” the club wrote in a press release. The LOSC is indeed wondering about the real reasons which lead to prohibiting this trip. The club first considers that the organizers and the competent authorities should be perfectly capable of organizing a festive event of this magnitude, essential in our territory, and of bringing together the supporters of the two teams while guaranteeing the best conditions of reception and security. Moreover, the experience of last season demonstrated that this was perfectly possible. »

Official press release following the travel ban on LOSC supporters for Lens-LOSC ⬇️

— LOSC (@losclive) October 3, 2023

Fifth club to file an appeal

This Tuesday evening, the Sang et Or receive the Londoners Arsenal. And several hundred English people were authorized to go to Artois to attend this second match of the Champions League group stage. Which questions Lille leaders. “English supporters welcome this evening unlike regional supporters who are barred from accessing the stands five days later,” they were surprised. The decision of the authorities in the context of Sunday’s match thus appears to be clearly discriminatory towards Lille supporters, non-homogeneous and particularly unfair. »

Faced with this observation, the northern club therefore decided to challenge the legality of this order prohibiting the travel of its supporters in court. As Pierre Barthélémy, the lawyer specializing in supporters, clarified on X (formerly Twitter), Lille is only the fifth club to file such an appeal. Olympique de Marseille did it twice, in 2013 for a trip to Nice and in 2018 before a trip to Lyon. Olympique Lyonnais also challenged such an order in 2013, for the derby in Saint-Étienne. Nice (against ASSE in 2019) and Saint-Étienne (against Lyon in 2019) are the last two.

Lille (7th) hosts Lens (15th) this Sunday (5:05 p.m.) for the 8th day of Ligue 1.

2023-10-03 17:17:20
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