Violence in stadiums: "A lack of long-term vision on the part of public authorities" (R. Evain, ESF)

"We can only note the lack of long-term vision on the part of the public authorities. Since 2016, our approach has been based on dialogue, with a preference for individual rather than collective sanctions. For the last 12 to 18 months, we've been going in the opposite direction. There are more collective travel bans than individual stadium bans, which is absurd. The desire to disband supporters' groups is the culmination of this trend," said Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe (FSE), to News Tank Football on 09/04/2025.

Evain was reacting to French Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau's desire to disband several supporters' groups because of criminal acts committed by some of their members. More generally, Place Beauvau (official residence of the French Minister of the Interior) referred to a "veritable explosion in violence at professional football matches since the start of the 2024-25 season", citing an increase in incidents, arrests and the number of law enforcement officers called out at matches, the latter being mobilised to the detriment of…