French Minister calls for tighter security controls
Date:
21 September 2015
Thierry Braillard, France’s Secretary of State for Sport, has called for security measures inside French stadia to be improved ahead of the Uefa Euro 2016 national team tournament in the country after major crowd trouble disrupted a top-tier Ligue 1 football match yesterday (Sunday).
The Marseille v Lyon game was interrupted for 23 minutes by spectators throwing bottles onto the pitch at the former’s Stade Velodrome home. Marseille and Lyon are both slated to host games during next summer’s tournament.
“It’s unacceptable and I think we need to be firmer on the security checks,” Braillard (pictured) told RTL radio on Monday. “We’re six months away from the Euro, which is a fantastic event, and I’m urging everyone to take lessons from what happened. There are security conditions that need to be respected. You cannot have glass bottles in the stands.”
Marseille president Vincent Labrune said on Sunday that the club would “assume its responsibilities” and added today that safety nets would be put up to protect players on the pitch.
French football league president Frederic Thiriez said that it was time to consider harsher penalties for such incidents, suggesting that fines of as little as €50,000 ($57,000) “looks like very little for this kind of thing.” Thiriez added that points deductions for clubs could be considered in the future.
http://www.sportbusiness.com/sport-news/french-minister-calls-tighter-security-controls