The French FA have announce in an official communiqué that their disciplinary committee is opening an investigation into racist incidents which took place on Wednesday evening in a third tier league match between AS Nancy and Red Star FC at the Stade Marcel-Picot.
Nancy launched their own internal investigation and identified a supporter responsible for monkey-chants following the 1-1 draw. The president of the Lorraine club Nicolas Holveck has confirmed that the person had been identified, with the individual in question seen making derogatory gestures mimicking a monkey.
At the final whistle of the match, Red Star’s manager Habib Beye revealed that three of his players experienced racist abuse during the match.
Red Star FC condemned the racist gestures made towards their players. The club from the northern suburbs of Paris have released a statement condemning “revolting” and “hateful behaviour” coming from the home stand.
“We offer our full support to all our players. By attacking some of them, the whole club has been hurt. Red Star calls for exemplary punishment of those responsible for these despicable acts, which must not be trivialised. The fight against racism in stadiums is everyone’s responsibility. In this respect, we salute the management of Nancy, who are doing everything possible to identify the perpetrators. We will also be making representations to the French Football Federation and the relevant authorities, providing them with the visual and audio evidence we have to defend our players, our honour and our values.”
Red Star’s supporters’ group has also released a statement of their own, equally condemning the behaviour reported at the Stade Marcel Picot last night. “Such behavior has no place neither in a stadium nor anywhere else in our society. As fans that are anti-racist at the core, our Red Star Fans group and the Rino Della Negra stand as a whole wish to express our public support for all the players and staff of Red Star FC.”
