Nantes’ victory against Nice on Saturday (1-0) was marked by the death of a Canaries supporter, following clashes shortly before the start of the match. A terrible tragedy which follows various excesses in French stadiums for several weeks. An increasingly critical situation that Jérôme Rothen can no longer tolerate. The former PSG player stepped up to the plate in his show on RMC Rothen gets angry about the travel ban for supporters.
“God knows I protected the supporters because it remains a football match, a spectacle. It goes both ways with two groups of supporters. With fans who can support one team and the others the second. Communicating with your supporters when you win in hostile terrain is fantastic. But that was before. Today, this is no longer possible, society is ultra-violent, it already was before but we have passed a milestone. It’s not just in football. Coming to a match to lose your life is not possible.
We knew that a tragedy was going to happen because it was coming one after another, we couldn’t have predicted that Nantes-Nice would bring a death. There is no more scale. If there is collective punishment, it doesn’t matter. I experienced it as a player, there were two deaths at the Parc des Princes during my time. No matter how important you are to a club or a religion, you should not lose your life on the sidelines of a match. Stop! The fans will be frustrated but you will stay warm with your families, you will keep money and you will be even more excited every fortnight. The police will be used elsewhere, for social problems.”
