Watching Bastia v Marseille on TV on Wednesday night was a strange experience; switching on for the 9pm KO, I wasn’t sure if I was watching the game live, or footage of a previous game, one of several, per L’Equipe, that have brought things to a head. There was the constant sound of explosions, and a swelling bank of fog obscuring the game, until, peering through the mist, you could see that the tribunes were all empty. This was, in fact, a game ‘huis clos’ – behind closed doors – and the noise and the smoke was coming from the Bastia support ranged in front of a big screen in the carpark outside their stadium in Furiani.
The step to have this match played in front of empty stands had been taken because of clashes in the Corsican derby, when Bastia were ‘welcomed’ by Ajaccio in their first Ligue 1 clash in eight years, back in October. Late on in that 0-0 game, Bastia defender Gaël Angoula and Ajaccio midfielder Johan Cavalli clashed heads (in a deliberate, rather than accidental, sense) leading to both being sent off, and trouble – flares, and agricultural bombs – in the stands, such that the players were trying to calm their livid fans. This followed incidents at Bastia’s home game against PSG (0-4) in September, when the PSG bus was reportedly targeted by a variety of missiles and there were clashes with the police after the match, when tear gas was deployed and several people, fans and police, were hurt, and more trouble at the League Cup game against Lille when an assistant referee was hit in the head by a projectile.
Following the Marseille match, which also involved the visiting bus being attacked, the LFP have come down hard – Bastia will not be allowed to play at home until further notice. The Disciplinary Commission rightly cites worries about maintaining security in and around the ground, after repeated incidents and warnings. Bastia are away at Montpellier this weekend, but the last game before the winter break was supposed to be at home to Nancy – it is not yet clear where that game will be played.
In reaction, the Guardian reports that a long-standing staff member (73-year-old logistical director Jo Bonavita) has gone on hunger strike; he is encouraging his fellow fans to complain about the treatment Bastia has received. The official reaction has also been predictably strong – that ‘they want to destroy us’, according to Club President Pierre-Marie Geronimi. Possibly problematically, he insists that the club could not be responsible for actions outside the ground; the supporters in the carpark were given permission to be there, and to install the big screen, by the local prefecture – and with the blessing of broadcaster BeinSport. Presumably the club was OK with this – but even if they were, it would appear they were not the only body giving the all-clear to the gathering.
While the LFP Disciplinary Commission verdict kept strictly to a record of incidents, the main LFP communiqué includes the more judgmental phrase, « dont les conséquences auraient pu être tragiques » (“which could have had tragic consequences”) in describing recent events. This is a chilling reminder of what happened at the Stade Armand-Césari at a Coupe de France semi-final twenty years ago, when, on 5 May 1992, a temporary stand collapsed, killing 18 and injuring over 2,000 others.
That stadium has gone now, demolished to make way for new stands – whether the LFP had this in mind when issuing their statement cannot be known; but it was perhaps a poor choice of words. While the actions of certain supporters of Bastia this season have been worthy of criticism – the game against LOSC also featured racist insults thrown at the assistant referee, per the Disciplinary Commission – there is arguably a big difference between crowd trouble, however severe, and mismanagement by the club authorities that led to prison terms, suspended sentences, fines, and the deaths of 18 people.
It should also be noted that the Corsican Derby mentioned above was played at Ajaccio’s ground, not Bastia’s – and that in a round-up of disciplinary issues at the end of the 2011/12 season, the Disciplinary Committee applied a three-point penalty (one suspended) to Ajaccio for crowd trouble including an assault on officials, a decision that Auxerre should play four matches (two suspended) behind closed doors after the demonstrations that saw Montpellier players having to clear tennis balls, tomatoes, toilet paper and other missiles from their area in a match that was twice stopped by the referee before the police stepped in to clear the stand behind the visitors’ goal, and a fine of €15.000 to PSG after their fans’ actions (flares on the pitch) led to postponements away at Lorient. There seems little consistency in the sanctions meted out.
It is not yet clear what will happen in game 19, whether this will be postponed, or played elsewhere. What is clear is that the newly-promoted side feel very harshly done by, in a disciplinary system that seems random at best, which may cause further demonstrations of disquiet. With Bastia’s next match to be played in Montpellier, where fans are also protesting heavy-handedness by the authorities after ‘l’Affaire Casti’, it can only be hoped that things pass off peacefully, and Bastia, currently 15th in the table, can defuse their off-pitch issues and concentrate on their fight to stay up.