Between the protests against BeIN's programming and the throwing of tennis balls onto the courts, not a weekend goes by without a League match being interrupted. This Saturday evening, it was Bastia – Lorient who were stopped by the referee, but for much more serious reasons.
It all started with a play in the 31st minute. A killer tackle from Bastia midfielder Jocelyn Janneh brings Julien Ponceau to the ground. Referee Willy Delajod issues a red card, rather logical. On the pitch, tempers are heating up but also in the stands. A smoke bomb is thrown onto Armand Cesari's lawn. Just afterwards, Mr. Delajod is alerted by one of the assistants. The referee returns with a lighter which he shows to the delegate on the sidelines. The game resumes in confusion. But the projectiles continued to rain on the field and on the assistant who explained that he had been hit in the head.
In these conditions, Willy Delajod decides to send the two teams back to the locker room. Meanwhile, Frédéric Antonetti, who has become technical director of SC Bastia since this summer, crosses the field to speak to the spectators present on the side of the stand from which the projectiles came. In the Furiani bays, a crisis meeting began to decide whether or not to continue the match.
After about ten minutes, the officials came out. The referee announced that the match would resume at 9:15 p.m. after a 36-minute interruption. “But we will be very vigilant,” he warned. The Bastia leaders guaranteed that the stand would be well secured.
On October 26, the Corsican derby between AC Ajaccio and SC Bastia had already stopped in the 42nd minute after fights in a stand, then a storm.
