The National Association of Supporters (ANS) denounces “authoritarian announcements”THE “illegal threats” et “unbearable hypocrisy” from the government, in a long letter addressed to the Minister of Sports Gil Avérous, which franceinfo was able to consult on Monday November 11. In this six-page letter, the organization deplores “the instrumentalization of Football” by the government, and “political and media speeches 'on the backs' of football and its supporters” multiplied by Gil Avérous.
“Since taking office, you have never sought to interact directly with our association and have never been involved in the work of the national supporter body,” she criticizes him in particular. Several recent controversies are addressed in this same tone. Firstly, political management “authoritarian” of the case of the pro-Palestine tifo of the Collectif Ultras Paris. The National Association of Supporters criticizes the declarations of the minister, who considered that a “tifo of a political nature (…) has no place in a sports arena”.
“By extending this ban to any political message, even non-provocative, even non-insulting, even non-defamatory, even non-discriminatory, even not contrary to public order, you decide on a totally illegal general and absolute ban measure”estimates the ANS. She sees in these words a “unbearable hypocrisy, when recent news is full of uses of sport as a political tool (noble and non-pejorative notion), starting with the last Olympic Games or the last Football World Cup. Events where our elected officials have took care to be as visible and as involved as possible to gain political credit from sporting successes and to convey ideological messages”.
The ANS cites in particular several uses of sport to convey political messages: tribute to the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, to the victims of the Strasbourg Christmas market shooting, to the victims of the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, against the war in Ukraine… She also affirms that these declarations are in contradiction both with “UEFA regulations as fundamental principles of the French Republic, including first and foremost freedom of expression, have constitutional value”. She therefore denounces the “illegal pressure on the Paris Saint-Germain club so that it takes illegal sanctions against a supporters' association which has ignored neither sporting regulations nor French laws nor regulations”.
Another recent controversy whose political management does not pass muster in the eyes of the ANS: Gil Avérous's proposal to stop matches in the event of homophobic chants. “Apart from the fact that the Minister of the Interior contradicted you in the hours that followed, the sporting events which have taken place since then have demonstrated the inanity of your authoritarian announcements and weakened the credibility or effectiveness of your announcements”she criticizes.
“Worse, while the national supporter body was working on the subject in the ministry's premises, you preferred to stay in your office to welcome, in front of the photographers and with a smile, the president of the LFP even as the Senate published a shocking report on the governance of the LFP and that the prosecution initiated criminal proceedings against the LFP and its president”still tackles the association.
Finally, the supporters' organization castigates the meeting “extremely publicized” in the company of the authorities, Friday November 8, during which it was decided to intensify the administrative stadium bans and travel bans, she says. The ANS sees in these measures “serious and illegal threats against the rule of law”.
