The scene ignited social media. On August 22, in the middle of a Ligue 1 match between OGC Nice and Olympique de Marseille, the international Dimitri Payet, with rage on his lips, threw the bottle of water at the Nice supporters that they had just throw him in the back. In a few seconds, it’s chaos: invasion of the field, fight between spectators and players… and premature end of the match whistled by the referee. The season has just started, but this is not the first incident of this kind. Nor the last.
In December, it was the Ultras of Paris-Saint-Germain and those of Olympique Lyonnais who offered a memorable beating the day after a high-level meeting between the Minister of the Interior, the Keeper of the Seals, the Minister Delegate for Sports and the highest authorities of professional football to decide on “concrete measures and validate the pursuit of constructive and joint work”, with a view to combating violence in stadiums!
Faced with these ever more uncontrollable supporters and resulting sporting sanctions, in particular defeats on green carpet, exclusion from certain competitions or matches behind closed doors, some big clubs could well dream purely and simply of a championship without spectator… After all, revenue from matches – ticketing and consumption in the stadium – represents only 10% of their income, compared to 50% for TV rights and the rest for sponsorship and player transfer fees. would allow them, at a lower cost, to ensure a calmer competition.
