It’s sad to see a magnificent city that so many of us love depicted as inhospitable and dangerous. It’s where so many football fans enjoyed a wonderful day basking in the sun and the glow of anticipation for the Champions League final until heading to the Stade de France, writes Henry Winter, chief football correspondent for The Times.
Saturday’s subsequent shambles outside the ground was a PR disaster for the French state, which may explain its attempt to shift the blame on to fans in a buck-passing exercise that was instantly derided and disproved.
There is talk of whether France’s wretched handling of the supporters’ visit to Saint-Denis may affect the Rugby World Cup next year or the 2024 Olympics. Unlikely. These are lesser events than the most important date in the football club calendar and that also ignores the mindset of their riot police. Saturday was all about the perception of English fans held by the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS).
Innocent Manchester United fans were tear-gassed in Lille in 2010. Chelsea fans were tear-gassed outside Parc des Princes in 2015 and inside in 2016. Now it’s Liverpool. And this is the issue, certainly in trying to understand why the CRS laid out the terrain around Stade de France as if expecting a battle.
They tear-gassed rioting England fans in Marseille at France ’98 and Euro 2016 and their view of English fans seems shaped by that. There is little sophistication in their thinking. This is in contrast to the more nuanced policing in Germany, where they communicate, defuse tension and don’t go on past reputation but the reality of what’s in front of them. The problem with French police is that they have modern equipment but outdated thinking. They have their agendas and pepper sprays.
They looked at the river of red flowing up from La Plaine RER station and thought “hooligans” — not that this is largely a well-behaved group, containing some ticketless fans and some with fakes as happens at major events, but mainly decent fans. And look closer and there was a university lecturer popular in English academia, there was the leading executive of a global clothing company, a noted football agent, a partner in a specialist pensions firm, and also those who have served diligently clubs and national associations. This was not a mob as perceived by the police. This was a collection of ages, professions and demographics.
The darkening cloud for posturing French politicians and blinkered Uefa officials is now the backlash from the corporate community, including sponsors, who are preparing letters of complaint after their treatment at the clenched fists of the French police. Uefa may talk about a duty of care to fans but history shows it mainly cares about keeping the patrons and funders sweet. Money matters.
If Uefa is finally to acknowledge its mistakes, the poor allocations, the failure to urge restraint by the police, then it will come only because the money men and women stamp their feet. So here is the experience of one leading business figure, hugely respected within the European footballing community, who attended the final with 100-plus colleagues and corporate clients who all had tickets. He’s a neutral, a supporter of neither club, but a passionate fan of football, and his clients pour many millions into the sport.