FOOTBALL matches in France will be immediately called off if fans jeer during the French national anthem – so says the French minister of sports.
Roselyne Bachelot spoke out yesterday after an urgent meeting was called by president Nicolas Sarkozy following France's friendly against Tunisia on Tuesday night in which some supporters let out hostile whistles during La Marseillaise.
The inci
dent prompted a wave of criticism among French authorities. "Any match at which our national anthem is whistled at will be immediately stopped," Bachelot said after the meeting that included the head of the French Football Federation (FFF) and other sports officials.
France, a former colonial ruler of Tunisia, has many residents of North African descent. Tunisia fans appeared to largely outnumber French fans at Stade de France just north of Paris. French TV broadcast images yesterday of fans waving Tunisian flags as whistles largely drowned out the national anthem – sung by Laam, a young woman singer of Tunisian background.
Many Tunisia fans also chanted "Tunisia, Tunisia" and booed when French players' names were read out before the match. France went on to win 3-1.
In a statement, Sarkozy's office referred to the "scandalous incidents" at the stadium, while prime minister Francois Fillon said he was disappointed that the FFF didn't halt the match and said those who whistle at national anthems must be barred from games.
"It's insulting for France, for the players on the French team," he said. "Matches should be stopped whenever national anthems, whichever ones they are, get whistled at. It's a lack of consideration and respect for an entire nation."
Calling a halt to matches if supporters jeer the national anthem is a plan that is unlikely to go down well with Uefa and Fifa. The governing bodies are always keen to avoid political intervention in football and, furthermore, they would be expected to want the final say on whether a match in one of their tournaments goes ahead or not.
French interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie ordered regional state officials to report instances of "outrage" against the national anthem, a misdemeanour in France. Investigators can use footage from video cameras placed in stadiums in France earlier this year for "high-risk" matches, her office said in a statement.
France captain Thierry Henry said "it's not easy playing at home and getting jeered", while defender Gael Clichy was nonplussed after making only his second international appearance on Tuesday. "It's a bit weird because we're supposed to be playing at home," Clichy said.
However, France winger Hatem Ben Arfa, who is of Tunisian descent, refused to condemn the Tunisia fans – even though some of the most hostile jeers were aimed at him. "I'm not really angry with them," Ben Arfa said. "It's a bit of a shame but it's not a major problem."
FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes said the players were furious, having already been jeered by French fans during a match against Serbia at Stade de France last month and in previous friendlies. "We've had enough, it's intolerable," Escalettes said at a federation meeting yesterday. "If football leads to such behaviour it is not fulfilling its role, which is to unite people."
Brice Hortefeux, the minister of immigration and national identity, agreed the match should have been suspended, calling the whistles "a stupid act, and committed by imbeciles."
In 2001, the first friendly between France and Algeria was stopped midway through the second half after hundreds of fans invaded the field as France were leading 4-1.
The full article contains 593 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
