For nearly an hour in a room of the Orly training center, Pierre Ferracci, the president of Paris FC, returned this Wednesday noon to “the unjust sanctions” which, according to him, hit his club after the incidents of December 17 against Lyon. As we announced on December 31, Paris FC will appeal the suspension for five matches at the Charléty stadium but “accepts the lost match and the fine of € 10,000”. The Parisian club sent its appeal on Tuesday evening. It will be examined by the higher appeal commission. “We hope that it will go quickly”, underlines Pierre Ferracci. In the meantime, Paris FC has contacted the Créteil club and the Duvauchelle stadium where the match against Le Havre on the 21st day of L2 could be relocated, on Monday, January 17. Selected pieces from his lecture.
“We sanction the small club of L2 which has never posed a problem”
“We all agree that we must eradicate violence in stadiums. I hope there will be a before and an after December 17th. But we may have paid for the others. We arrived at the wrong time, after several other incidents in L1. And we sanction the small club of L2 which has never posed any problems. This is why we consider this five-game penalty to be unfair. Paris FC is not affected by the acts of violence of the ultras of Lyon and some who claim to be PSG.
There is a total disproportion with the sanctions (games behind closed doors) that Nice and Lyon had against OM. I have nothing against Nice and Lyon but they have not been sanctioned for the violence of opposing supporters, like us… I also notice that Lyon has been sanctioned with a suspension for the next Coupe de France. We are talking about the L2 championship. We were to receive 3 of the first 6. We are distorting the L2 championship. I hope that the appeal board will find the most appropriate sanction and take into account what has always been done. We are just asking for a little more fairness. “
“Our supporters are not affected by the incidents”
“We have been doing substantive work with our supporters for years. There has never been any concern about violence with them, whether in Charléty or outside. We will remain modest. Maybe one day we too will be faced with problems. But until then, we have mastered them. They sometimes swing smoke bombs but we pay the fines. Against Lyon, the supporters of Paris FC, our two Ultras groups held up well. They had nothing to be ashamed of. They were deprived of a party like the whole club, our employees, our partners. The arrests clearly show that the supporters of Paris FC, including our Ultras, are not affected by the incidents. ”
“I reaffirm that the match was not classified at risk”
“I have a lot of respect for the police forces with whom we have always worked in close collaboration. As the Paris Police Prefect sent me a letter, I will write to him, replying that I regret his position in the investigation of the case. What was said certainly influenced his treatment against us. I am willing to insure our failures. I never said that we were perfect in the organization of this match. But I reaffirm it: we have never received any information according to which the match was classified at risk at 3 on a scale of 5. We did not receive anything. Between sensitive and risky matches, it is not the same thing. There is a precise scale. I think we have all, and I mean all, underestimated the dangerousness of the match. Otherwise, the Prefecture would have prohibited the movement of Lyonnais. In these cases, the Prefectures rarely hesitate. “
“Relocating our matches could pose security problems”
“A sanction of closed-door matches at Charléty would have been more reasonable… There, we will be sent to stadiums that we do not control even less. It can pose security problems because the matches will not be behind closed doors. We can have an exemption to play in Île-de-France. We will already contact Créteil for the match against Le Havre. We’ll see after. We play game after game. We, of course, will learn the lessons of Lyon and progress by improving Charléty who is not quite equipped. We will have to go up the slope, convince people to come back when this Lyon match could have been remembered in a positive way. But it is quite the opposite. “
“We will support complaints”
“We must not mix the attacked and the aggressors. Paris FC has been the victim of this violence, unlike clubs which have already had to deal with it at home. We are attacked, while I believe that Paris FC has been attacked and disrupted economically, sportingly and in terms of image by all that … The damage is enormous. This is why we will support the complaints that have been filed against the Ultras de Lyon and those who claim to be PSG. Eight stadium bans have already been issued and two will be judged. We are also considering filing a complaint against the Lyon stewardship company. There were failures on that side. If some objects may have entered the stadium, this is not the responsibility of the Paris FC stewards or the police. “
Eight PSG ultras banned from stadium
Eight Parisian “ultras” were notified of an administrative stadium ban (IAS) after the incidents that occurred on December 17 during the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France between Paris FC in Lyon, AFP learned from the prefecture on Tuesday. Paris Police Department (PP). The PP does not specify if all are supporters of PSG or if some support Paris FC.
“These bans relate, according to the profile of the supporters, to the matches of PSG, Paris FC, Créteil Lusitanos, Red Star and PSG Handball”, detailed the prefecture. “Some are banned from matches for all these clubs, others only for a few”, the same source explained.
The administrative stadium bans (IAS), introduced in 2006, are decided by the prefect in the event of a threat to public order, either “general behavior” during sporting events, or “a serious act”, states the sport code.