Football: in Gironde, a player suspended for 25 years for hitting a referee

He will not set foot on a football pitch again for 25 years, in 2048. At that time the person concerned, now 22 years old, will be 47. On December 13, the regional commission of appeal of the New-Aquitaine Football League has decided to suspend a young member of the Gironde-La Réole club (FCGR) for a quarter of a century.

Even doubling the sanction, pronounced in first instance by the district concerned which had, him, recommended a withdrawal of license for a period of eleven years.

This is the heaviest punishment before the lifetime ban.

An exemplary, exceptional sentence, but at the height of the outburst of violence.

The facts go back, according to the daily Sud-Ouest which reveals the case, to October 2, 2022. The reserve team of Gironde-La Réole (FCGR) faces that of Monségur for a derby in the last district division.

The referee, aged 43, is a volunteer also licensed at La Réole.

An ordinary match which is interrupted for the first time in the 25th minute due to an argument on the edge of the field.

The club secretary asks four young people who smoke shisha to leave the stadium.

Among them is the future aggressor.

Football: a La Réole player suspended for twenty-five years for hitting a volunteer referee https://t.co/lGvHlnphYV pic.twitter.com/OYN1ezfbH0

— South West Bordeaux (@SO_Bordeaux) January 3, 2023

According to the president of the La Réole club, Jérôme Ducloux, quoted by Sud-Ouest, the situation would have degenerated after the referee of the meeting would have made racist remarks against shisha smokers.

After the match, which ended with a score of 4 to 4, the young La Réole licensee returned to the stadium to explain himself to the referee.

The discussion escalates quickly.

The insults and the first blows - with fists and kicks - leave.

The other players must intervene to separate the two protagonists of the same club.

A report is sent to the district the same evening.

The next day, the victim had his injuries recorded by a doctor (an ITT day).

The president of La Réole also intervened by excluding the volunteer referee from the club.

“We cannot tolerate racist remarks in a football stadium”, assumes the leader in the columns of South-West who also regrets that the young licensee did not file a complaint for racist insult.