The situation must be quite unique, almost everywhere in the world. Lausanne and the Stade de la Tuilière know how to do things differently. The system for welcoming processions of opposing supporters is special: on Sunday, Servetti supporters were able to station themselves for a good five minutes at or near the foot of the Kop Sud, that of the most fervent Lausanne fans, in front of the Blécherette bus stop. And then, they resumed their (already long) walk over the few dozen meters that still separated them from the area dedicated to visitors.
The data is not new. It has been sufficiently criticized, particularly after the incidents following the last derby at La Tuilière, in December 2023. It is by far not ideal. But it must be emphasized: on Sunday, this posed no problem. At the entrance and exit of the stadium.
The device had been modified. At the stroke of 1 p.m., already, on the Tuilière square, a Securitas employee, megaphone in hand and pronounced Swiss-German accent, had taken the megaphone: “This is the last moment to go to sectors C and D,” she warned. In other words, the stand facing the main stand, and the Lausanne ultras block.
It was one of the adaptations of the security approach, to avoid any confrontation: the time to let the Servetti procession pass, access to the stands adjoining the Route du Châtelard was blocked. Same measure at the exit of the stadium. And a priori, everything went well, no major incident to report.
Proof that the approach worked, undoubtedly. Although we must also mention the responsibility of the supporter groups. Inside the stadium, it was reported that the leaders of the Lausanne ultras encouraged theirs not to leave the corridors, to prevent things from degenerating, despite the targeted chants which were echoed from both sides. Outside, on the Servetti side, the procession was also well structured, with several ultras there to ensure that no one dispersed. Timely accountability.
In these conditions, this derby will have been an excellent example of what these matches bring to French-speaking Football. There was tension, and that is essential, all the same. There were targeted chants, obviously, that’s part of the decor. There were smoke bombs, and despite the witticisms of the LS speaker (“Your songs ignite us, your smoke bombs smoke us”), that brings something. There was certainly this brief interruption at the start of the match, but without any impact on the match.
In short, it was a nice derby, a derby as we like them, with an almost full stadium (more than 11,000 spectators). Also because there are two teams in good shape, which have attracted a lot of support in recent weeks. And even if the sporting outcome did not delight a part (Geneva) of the public, we must consider that it was good to be at La Tuilière on Sunday. The positive temperatures must also have helped, for once in a Lake Geneva derby.
