The FFF appeals committee rejected Lyon’s appeal which contested the decision taken by the Professional Football League (LFP) not to sanction OM for the stone-throwing of Lyon’s buses on October 29, a- we learned Friday from sources with knowledge of the matter.
Also read: OM-OL incidents: “When I wash my face, the stigma is there and will remain,” insists Grosso
The meeting between the two teams could not be played on Sunday October 29 in Marseille, the Rhone team’s bus having been stoned near the Vélodrome stadium and OL coach Fabio Grosso injured after the jet A projectile had broken a window of the vehicle. The match was postponed to December 6 at the Stade Vélodrome by the LFP competitions committee.
The Federation, like the League, argued the principle according to which clubs cannot be responsible for incidents which took place outside a sports venue.
At OM, management had always been rather confident about the outcome of the case. Based on LFP regulations and case law, the Marseille club considered itself “responsible for welcoming opposing teams to the stadium and not beyond”. For the leaders, it was “not possible for OM to be held responsible for incidents which took place several hundred meters from the Vélodrome”.
The Marseille club had also noted that during the meeting of the LFP competitions commission, “even Lyon had recognized the exemplary attitude of OM” and of its president Pablo Longoria, who had quickly condemned acts “ completely unacceptable.”
Before the decision of the FFF appeal committee, Lyon had for its part castigated the lack of decision by the LFP.
“It is a very serious thing not to have made a decision regarding this event,” declared Friday OL coach Fabio Grosso, on whose face twelve stitches had been placed following the stone crushing of the Lyon bus near the Vélodrome.