FRANCE: SOCCER - Paris St Germain fan's death sparks nationwide debate on hooliganism, prompts change in policy on ticket sales

The death of a Paris St Germain fan after a UEFA Cup game has sparked a nationwide debate in France on how to rid soccer of violence and racism, and prompted a change in policy on ticket sales. "When football kills", screamed the headline in white letters on the totally black front page of French sports daily L'Equipe on Saturday (November 25). "Fans of hatred", said another. A policeman shot dead one man and injured another while under attack from fans shouting racist comments following Paris Saint Germain (PSG)'s 4-2 defeat by Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv on Thursday (November 23). Witnesses said the black policeman opened fire on a mob of PSG fans who were chasing a Jewish supporter of the Israeli team outside Parc des Princes in Paris. The Hapoel supporter was being pursued by around 100 PSG fans when plainclothes policeman Antoine Granomort intervened, according to the police. Granomort was placed in custody while magistrates investigated his assertion that he had acted in self-defence. The fan who was shot dead, Julien Quemener, 25, was a member of the Boulogne Boys, a group of PSG supporters comprising far-right sympathisers, some registered as violent by police. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday held a meeting with French Professional Football League (LFP) President, Frederic Thiriez and various fans' associations, including PSG. "It's an extremely serious and worrying situation," he said at a news conference following the meeting. He said that from now on there would be a meeting between authorised fans' associations and the police before all PSG games adding they would be dissolved if they do not work with the justice and police institutions. Sarkozy also said tickets at Paris St Germain's Parc des Princes would now be sold only to official fans' associations. "We prefer to see stands that are empty than full of unwanted people," he said, and explained this would shift responsibility onto the clubs to tackle antisocial behaviour if they wanted to secure a full stadium. Many of the hooligans associated with PSG do not belong to official fans' associations. Under French law, unofficial organisations cannot be dismantled though Sarkozy has in the past called for them to be banned. "I really think there's been an awakening in mass conscience - because it's not just he PSG, it's the whole of football," he continued. "The French are looking at the association and wondering what's happening with the most popular sport in France. You can see 80,000 people in "Stade de France" (Paris stadium) for the rugby, we deploy five times less police and there are no incidents". "Football shouldn't be war, it should remain a celebration," Thiriez said. Some observers, however, have pointed out that PSG had been tainted by hooliganism for years and had failed to tackle the issue. In an earlier statement Thiriez said the league's priority would now be to ensure that PSG's next games, away to Nantes on Sunday and at home to Toulouse on Dec. 3, would remain incident-free. Rival groups of soccer hooligans ransacked a motorway service station near Nantes on their way back from a league match there last season.

ITN Source | November 26, 2006

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