“Fag Team”, “Fuck you all” : here are two of the messages that could be read in capital letters on two banners brandished by Montpellier ultras this Sunday on the occasion of the Ligue 1 match between Nantes and Montpellier. Offensive messages denounced on Monday by Amélie Oudéa-Castera. The Minister of Sports condemns “homophobic acts” and demand sanctions.
“Strongest condemnation of these images, these words, these homophobic acts which must disappear from the enclosures of football and sport”wrote the minister on Twitter, reproducing photos taken at the Mosson stadium at the start of this meeting counting for the 19th day of L1. “Their perpetrators must be identified, punished and kept permanently away from stadiums”added “AOC”.
Deserted grandstand
The incriminated banners were deployed by the ultras of the MHSC, who intended to protest against the catastrophic results of their team, beaten 6-1 four days earlier in Nice, now 15th and close to the relegation zone. In addition to these two messages, the Montpellier ultras deserted their stands for the first fifteen minutes, before returning and throwing smoke bombs on the lawn, causing the meeting to be interrupted.
The anti-homophobia collective in Rouge Direct football denounces Monday “homophobia in football [qui] go unpunished” and invite “those who have the power and the responsibility to act with force to really roll back homophobia”.
The banners were also denounced on Twitter by Hervé Martin, PS deputy mayor of Montpellier in charge of Sports, who said to himself “outraged” by these “vulgar and homophobic insults”. The chosen one also hopes that “penalties will be taken”.