Slowed fervor, inevitable risk of contamination and unbearable "sorting" between subscribers got the better of the passion of the fans who animate the hottest spans of France. Since Monday, press releases from ultras have followed one another to announce their upcoming absence in stadiums limited to 5,000 people until the end of October (players, staffs, security personnel and media included), except by prefectural exemption.
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None calls into question the strict health protocol, whether it is physical distancing, the wearing of a mask or the obligation to remain seated, but all point, like the Kop de la Butte Tuesday in Angers, measures "incompatible with our way of supporting ”. “Unfortunately, we realized that it was very difficult to sing and animate the stand properly. Distancing also decreases the effervescence effect that one can have in an Ultra group in normal times ”, thus described the Kop Sud de Lorient.
"It is inconceivable, for us, to enact these selection criteria"
Another red line: the necessary selection to be made among the subscribers, which the groups categorically refuse to operate. “It is inconceivable, for us, to enact these selection criteria. The Sang et Or public is a whole, ”say the Red Tigers from the famous Marek stand in Lens, back in L1. Same story with the Loire Brigade in Nantes. “The low number of places would force us to sort through our members and deprive us of 3,000 to 4,000 supporters in (tribune) Loire. We would therefore become the "privileged" of a 3/4 empty stadium where subscribers, although they have not been numerous in recent seasons, will not all be able to come. "
This decision "difficult to take" for the ultras of Reims, even "painful" for those of Nîmes, was also made out of respect for the nursing staff mobilized in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the groups that carried out actions in their favor during confinement. "It would have been completely absurd not to respect the barrier gestures and consequently the work of these people still mobilized today", assure the people of Lorient.
The exemption obtained by Usap in rugby
For similar reasons, the ultras of Paris, Lyon and Saint-Etienne had also chosen to boycott the spans of the Stade de France in July for the national cup finals, in view of the measures imposed in the enclosure and the low number of tickets granted. The prefects have recently had the freedom to increase the authorized tonnage, in a derogatory manner and on a case-by-case basis. But only the Perpignan rugby club has obtained such a favor for the moment, with a limit pushed to 8,000 people this Friday for the reception of Colomiers in a friendly match.
The possibility of adapting the gauge according to the capacity of reception of the stadium, option carried from the month of June by the National Authority of Supporterism (INS), is now defended up to the government majority. "If the gauge of 5,000 spectators can be understood for closed places such as certain sports halls, it can be different for open stadiums", advance sixty LREM parliamentarians, Monday in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Jean Castex.
“The health protocols (...) as well as the current infrastructures would make it possible to increase this spectator gauge by taking into account the total capacity of a stadium. This capacity would be reduced by the places necessary to respect social distancing, the health protocol and all barrier gestures, thus making it possible to accommodate up to half of the total capacity ”, assure the signatories.
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