A look back at the most scathing banners

It's the return of the biggest derby in France. Sunday, Saint-Étienne travels to the suburbs to face Olympique Lyonnais. A meeting which unleashes passions and whose strong antagonism is often expressed through acerbic and striking banners.

Traveling in the Chaudron during the 2005-2006 season, Lyon supporters sent a message to the Green Angels: “GA92: Put away your panther, in the kingdom of Ligue 1, Lyon is king.” A message which arrives in response to one of the most emblematic tifos of the derby released just before in the Kop Sud, the famous panther which bites the lion accompanied by an unequivocal message: “Don’t let this wounded Lyon suffer: Shoot him down.”

2007-2008 season, in the Gerland park, the Apaches take out a banner in reference to the famous song of Charles Aznavour hijacked by the Lyon supporters: “The real misery is your turns”. The confrontation between the two teams during the 2010-2011 season was particularly tasty for the Stéphanois. Victory at Gerland with a score of 1-0 and ironic banners that hit the mark with the famous: “Puel resignation” while the coach is stationed in Lyon. A few moments later, a new banner comes out: “Give us back 17th place” and later in the meeting, an unequivocal message in a stadium that resonates with the chants of the Stéphanois: “Sit down, listen to us!!!”.

Still on a humorous theme, inspired by the IPO of Olympique Lyonnais in 2007, the Magic Fans released a message to Gerland: “Do you like the purse? Lick them for us.” Another message that remained in the memories: “OL is like Beaujolais. It’s commercial and disgusting”. On the Lyon side, we can remember the famous: “In 76, it was your feet that were square”.

While some banners make you smile, others are more controversial. The most emblematic in this area is from Lyon, out at Geoffroy-Guichard: “Les Gones invented cinema…When your fathers were dying in the mines”. A controversial banner that will find a response: “30 years ago your fathers shouted: Go Greens”. Going back further, we find another banner of dubious taste, still on the Lyon side. 1995-1996 season, the Lugdunums took advantage of the news and of Jacques Chirac's choice to resume nuclear tests on an island in the Pacific called Mururoa to release this banner: “Stop nuclear tests in Mururoa… Do them in Saint-Etienne”.

Unfortunately, with the repression that has been hitting the derby for several years and preventing supporters of both camps from traveling, this match within the match of the banners is tending to disappear.