In Côtes-d'Armor, violence continues to gain ground in amateur Football

“There was not a Saturday or Sunday without information and reports reaching us about acts of violence,” warned Maxime Le Bihan, brand new director of the Côtes-d’Armor Football District, end of October.

Words still valid for last weekend. This Sunday, November 3, police and firefighters had to join the game between the Lantic club and AS Plouha Pludual after a Lantic player inflicted a violent kick to the head of an opponent. The gesture, voluntary and unrelated to the game, slightly injured the victim.

An act deplored by the president of FC Lanticais, Hugues Lesage: “It is an inexcusable gesture which will, I hope, be heavily sanctioned by the District. The club is also considering measures.”

However, the manager wishes to explain, without justifying, the violence of his player: “He reacted very badly to a provocation from an opposing player, who referred to what had happened a few weeks earlier. When you are regularly targeted for your difference, you can end up exploding.”

The incident in question dates back to Sunday October 20. In Plouézec, a local supporter, visibly drunk, made racist remarks towards the center forward of Guinean origin.

Insufficient sanctions?

Friday, November 1, the leaders of the Plouézec and Lantic clubs held a long stand before the disciplinary committee. Finally, the District ruled and sanctioned the Plouézec club with a fine of 100 euros for racist remarks made in its stadium. An insufficient sanction for Hugues Lesage: “It's half the fine if we don't have enough referees in a club! “.

“The commission simply applied the scale,” explains Maxime Le Bihan. Our goal in the coming weeks and months is to be much stricter and to change this scale. »

Matches behind closed doors are being considered, “or just closing the refreshment bars as we see that alcohol is often a factor in violence. But we will have to see if it is possible to put it in place.”

A “societal” problem

Physical violence, discriminatory remarks… Football, more than any other sport, is particularly the subject of the tensions that society is going through. Like the aggressive behavior of parents who see their child as a future football star. This is the sad and famous “Mbappé project”: “It is not as present in the department as elsewhere, but it exists more and more,” laments Maxime Le Bihan. Here too, we are considering certain measures, such as stopping individual rewards in children's tournaments.

But the District President recalls the limits of his field of action: “We can be more severe, especially on the ground, but outside, we cannot do much. The problem goes beyond football, it’s societal.”