“Please stop insulting messages, otherwise the match may be stopped or lost“: despite several messages on the giant screens of the Parc des princes, in Paris, insulting chants were sung by part of the Auteuil bend and in particular by the Collectif ultras Paris (CUP), Sunday December 15, against the Lyonnais during the last match of the 15th day of Ligue 1 between PSG and OL, which was interrupted for a few minutes in the second half.
At the end of the first period, insulting chants from the Lyonnais came down from the Auteuil corner for a few seconds, forcing the stadium announcer to speak. Others were sung in the second half, this time for at least five minutes. The match delegate then calls the referee Benoît Bastien: the match is stopped. This last exchange with the two captains in order to calm the spirits in the stands.
In the 54th minute, Achraf Hakimi, Parisian captain for the evening, went to the foot of the stand to ask for an end to the insulting chants. The match resumed a few minutes later, when a message was read again by the announcer and displayed on the big screen. After a few whistles, calm finally returns and the match resumes.
For Ousmane Dembélé, PSG striker, it is above all a logical decision: “Hearing these chants in the stadiums is difficult… I totally understand that the match is stopped“, he slipped at the end of the match, won 3-1.
As for Parisian supporters, opinions are rather divided: “It has always existed in football, there is nothing bad in fact. But it will still make waves“, pleads one.”Now, it's part of the game, this chambering, etc… Now, sometimes, it goes too far“, recognizes another. Finally, a supporter decides: “I start from the principle that we should not insult people. We abstain, we avoid!“
As a sign of protest, the Lyon leaders left the stand five minutes before the end of the meeting. Paris Saint-Germain, a repeat offender, risks being summoned again before the disciplinary committee. A report was produced by the League delegate for “insulting songs” and not for “discriminatory songs”, which changes the situation in terms of sanctions. PSG risks a fine, but not closure of the Auteuil stand behind closed doors.
At the end of October, the capital club was sanctioned by the LFP disciplinary committee after the homophobic chants sung for around ten minutes by supporters of the Collectif Ultras Paris against the Marseillais during the Strasbourg reception on the 19th. October, eight days before the “classic” won (3-0) by PSG at the Vélodrome. The club then suffered partial closure for a match from the Auteuil stand, which was partly empty during the visit of Toulouse on November 22.
