Lyon-Marseille definitively stopped after a bottle throw on Dimitri Payet
French football is unable to stem the violence in its stadiums. Sunday November 21, the match between Olympique Lyonnais (OL) and Olympique de Marseille (OM), counting for the 14e the day of Ligue 1 was thus interrupted from the first minutes and never resumed after more than an hour and a half of stoppage. This is the sixth time since the start of the season that a Ligue 1 meeting has been interrupted after overflows from supporters.
It was the throwing of a full water bottle from the north turn of Groupama Stadium in Lyon on the head of OM midfielder Dimitri Payet that caused this interruption by referee Rudy Buquet. The two teams then returned to the locker rooms.
A man was arrested and taken into custody, namely the police, who said they had identified him by CCTV cameras.
Conflicting announcements on the resumption of the match
Following this interruption, a crisis unit brought together the authorities, clubs and referees, said the prefect of the Rhône. in a tweet, specifying that the decision to resume the match was “To the sole arbitrator”. After an hour, the announcer announced the resumption of the meeting.
But, if the Lyon team returned to warm up for a few moments, that of Marseille, who did not want to play again, did not come out of the locker room.. “Dimitri is affected psychologically, it is not normal”, said OM President Pablo Longoria who asked the referee to “See the psychological state of the players” to make his decision.
“Contrary to what had been announced, the referee decided not to restart the game, considering that the safety of the players was not guaranteed”, ended up announcing the announcer of the Parc OL.
The height of the grotesque, the evening was organized by an imbroglio mixing Lyon and Marseille leaders, the referee of the match, the Professional Football League and the prefecture of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
“My sporting decision has always been not to resume the game. [Mais] it has been mentioned of disturbances to public order ”, explained the referee Ruddy Buquet at the microphone of Amazon Prime, implying that the final end of the match could give rise to fear of outbursts of frustrated supporters.
The prefect responds to the Football League on Twitter
The Professional Football League (LFP) has been condemned “Resisting the violent aggression of which Payet was the victim”, and said regret “Under these conditions the decision to resume the OL-OM meeting by the regional Prefect”.
A statement that provoked the prefect’s reaction on an official Twitter account:
“The prefect firmly denies the statements of the LFP. In no case has he made the decision to resume the match, which does not belong to him. This decision was taken by the arbitrator, in the presence of the prefect, the vice-prosecutor, the DDSP (Departmental Directorate of Public Security) and club presidents. “
In another message, the prefect explains that it was the referee who changed his mind in the evening.
The prefect firmly denies the statements of @LFPfr. In no case has he made the decision to resume the match,… https://t.co/2juSkS1uE0
– Préfetrhone (@ Prefect of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Rhône region)
“The length of the decision is incomprehensible”, estimated the Lyon president, Jean-Michel Aulas, according to whom the announced resumption of the game was violently refused by the Marseillais. ” OM’s reaction was extremely vigorous and without a personal informant, the referee thought that his decision had to be changed ”, he explained. On the side of OM, on evokes “A stroke of bluff” and we assure that “The referee never wanted to resume”.
Jean-Michel Aulas who said to himself “Disaster” by the bottle that touched Dimitri Payet, trying to protect his club by evoking an isolated act. ” We are well organized in terms of security here, he said. And as the author of the gesture was imprisoned, it is believed that the match could resume without problem. (…) There was no risk of new throws of projectiles. “
A similar incident in Nice in August
Dimitri Payet had already been hit by a bottle during a match in Nice at the very beginning of the season, in August. The meeting was interrupted at the 75e minute after the entry of some supporters on the field and an almost general fight between supporters, players of the two teams and members of the management of the two clubs, and she had no reprisals.
Asked about these incidents, Jean-Michel Aulas then spoke in favor of strong sanctions for the clubs, which places him, this Sunday, in an uncomfortable position: “I am one of the people who thinks that the only possible sanction to curb this state of affairs, whether at the level of players, managers, supporters, is the point penalty, he had declared. It’s the only one that’s really scary ”.
This was done by the disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League (LFP) which, on September 8, sanctioned OGC Nice (which was leading 1-0 at the time of the facts) of three games behind closed doors. and two penalty points, one of which is suspended.
“Despite the firmness of the decisions of the Disciplinary Commission of the LFP since the start of the season (withdrawal of points, closed-door match, closure of the stand) and the work carried out with the government authorities to more effectively punish violent individuals in the stadiums, these new serious incidents are a reminder that the safety of the matches is the responsibility of the home club and the local authorities, to whom it is ultimately the responsibility of resuming or definitively stopping the match ”, wanted to clarify, Sunday evening, the League, whose disciplinary committee will meet urgently from Monday, November 22.