The document is firm and clear. “The individual or collective travel, by any means, of any person claiming to be a supporter of the Saint-Etienne Sports Association or behaving as such is prohibited between the municipalities of the Loire, Isère, Drôme, Rhône, Ardèche, Haute-Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, Allier and Saône-et-Loire ”, according to the decree published Thursday in the Official Journal.
The text, signed by the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin, justifies this ban by “the relations between the supporters of OL and ASSE marked by animosity for very many years” and having often given rise to violent clashes.
The tension had verbally mounted on Wednesday, with the hanging on the gates of the OL training center by a group of ultra supporters of a banner demanding to “finish off” the Greens. “They are dying, finish them” might be read on the banner, while the Greens are currently last in the championship, 5 points behind 19th, Bordeaux.
The Rhone club, which had condemned this new overflow, is entangled in a tense relationship with its groups of ultra supporters.
The Ligue 1 match, Lyon-Marseille, was interrupted on November 21 following four minutes of play for a bottle throw on Dimitri Payet and the meeting must be replayed behind closed doors, on February 1 or 10 according to the LFP.
In addition, OL were excluded from the Coupe de France following incidents during the meeting once morest Paris FC counting for the 32nd finals of the competition, on December 17 at the Charléty stadium.