The culture of violence remains unanswered. And this is an alarming sign for everyone.

Several days have passed since the shocking events that occurred on Sunday in the south of France. There, a bus carrying Lyon players was attacked on the way from the hotel to the Vélodrome stadium for a match with Marseille. Lyon coach Fabio Grosso was injured and required 12 stitches around his left eye. His assistant Raffaele Longo was also injured. And this attack is difficult to perceive separately from general trends. Rather, it confirms and deepens them. Many questions remain unanswered after nearly a week.

Developments

Less than two hours before kick-off, the bus carrying the Lyon players left the hotel and reached the stadium in just ten minutes. He was ambushed by Marseille fans, who threw stones, bowling balls, bottles, cans, flares and smoke bombs at the side windows. All this indicates a planned attack, and not some kind of spontaneous emotional outburst.

Furthermore, eyewitnesses report that the side windows of the bus shattered quite quickly and that the throwers continued to deliberately throw objects at the windows to injure people present. Once again we see that these are not just emotional throws somewhere in the direction of the bus, but attempts to inflict serious injuries on passengers.

Grosso was first injured by shards of shattered glass, then hit in the face with a bottle. Bus passengers hid in the aisle between the seats and behind the back door on the steps. The attack lasted about two minutes, but to those on board the bus it must have seemed like an eternity. Once at the stadium, the Lions began to receive help.

As kick-off time approached, a decision had to be made whether to play. Grosso felt dizzy and couldn’t speak properly. Therefore, chief referee Francois Letexier canceled the match. Interestingly, after this, Lyon’s owner, John Textor, said that his players were ready to play, but he wanted the start time of the match to be moved. Letexier claims that the Lyon players made it clear to him that they did not want to play.

Here’s what Marseille coach Gennaro Gattuso thinks:

At first I saw blood on Fabio’s face. I thought there would be three or four stitches and nothing serious. And then, when I saw what really happened, I realized that the decision to cancel the match was absolutely correct.

When the stadium announced that the match would not take place, the Marseille fans quietly dispersed. And 600 Lyon fans, who had the opportunity to come to the Velodrome for the first time in many years, stood in the stands for a long time and shouted racist slogans at their opponent.

Further actions

This is the most unclear thing. In general, there was no responsible party in this story. Neither Marseille, nor the League, nor the private company responsible for stadium security, nor the Football Association bear responsibility. Since the incident occurred outside the stadium, the club cannot be involved. And this is a police matter. It is the police who can be accused of failing to ensure security on Lyon’s route to the stadium.

Gattuso, who won the 2006 World Cup in Italy with Grosso, reiterated the seriousness of the situation, as the attack could have led to tragedy, and Fabio and his assistant were lucky enough not to lose their eyes. Millimeters separated them from this. Gattuso’s words:

I’m sorry this happened. Fabio and I have an incredible relationship, we’ve experienced incredible things together as players and we wanted people to have a fantastic football experience on a Sunday night. 65 thousand people gathered at the stadium, some with their families, others even came from Belgium specifically for the match. I saw the children in tears, most of our fans were angry. No one associates with three or four characters who ruined such a day.

Three different investigations were launched in France. Two in relation to an attack on a bus, one in relation to racist behavior by Lyon fans at the stadium. On the day of the match the police finally recovered and arrested nine people; other people involved are wanted. One of the detainees was fined and banned from visiting the stadium for 18 months. The sentence cannot be said to be harsh.

Next steps

Another important issue remains the conduct of the match. The date has already been set: December 6th. But there is no clarity on where to play. Lyon does not want to return to Marseille and asks for a neutral pitch. The League has taken a break for now and is waiting to see what the investigations will lead to. There really aren’t many options.

You can play the match on a neutral pitch, you can play the match at the Velodrome in front of empty stands, or you can pretend that nothing happened and play the match under normal conditions. “Marseille” itself has nothing formally to do with it. There is no mention of sanctions or punishments against the club. It appears that the club cooperates with the police, but there is reason to believe that this collaboration is not so voluntary. In a certain sense, Marseille found itself hostage to a group of its radical fans.

Ultra factor

This is perhaps the most important point to pay attention to. Incidents like these have happened too often lately in French football. Less than a month ago, the match in Montpellier did not end due to clashes between fans and a firecracker hitting the goalkeeper. There were clashes of varying severity in Nice, Lyon, Paris, Saint-Etienne, Bordeaux. Not everything ends up on the front page, not everything borders on tragedy, but everything contributes to creating a general climate of hatred and impunity, which is the most important thing.

The way coach Marcelino left Marseille at the start of the season is significant. The resignation came suddenly. Apparently, the leaders of the club’s supporters group simply went to the office of Marseille president Pablo Longoria and called for Marcelino’s dismissal. This is what the mentor himself later said:

The president of Marseille told me: “You won’t be able to work in these conditions.” The club’s ultras entered his office for a scheduled dialogue, and their boss said that if I didn’t leave the team, they would leave the club, he asked the president to guarantee this dismissal.

It is surprising that the prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into the threats against Longoria and the club issued a statement saying that it does not accept reports based on such actions. And at the same time he follows the example of the fans and forces Marcelino to resign. This was a couple of months before the Lyon bus attack. The fans were fed a finger, they bit their hand. What’s next? Scary to imagine. Even Gattuso, new to French football, knows this:

I’m not the head of security, but the Lyon Hotel was a ten minute drive from the stadium. Everyone knew this was a high-stakes game. Given this, it was possible to close the road for ten minutes. This may be easier said than done. But these are my thoughts. People often began to remember how Margaret Thatcher had eradicated hooliganism in England. Strict laws are needed, perhaps at a pan-European level.