For the third time in two weeks, a high-level league game was temporarily stopped due to homophobic abuse occurring inside the stadium.
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Wednesday’s Ligue 1 game between home side Nice and visitors Marseille was stopped by referee Clement Turpin in the 28th minute for the removal of homophobic banners displayed by Nice’s fans, along with reports of homophobic chanting. The stoppage lasted 10 minutes.
According to writer and broadcaster Tom Williams, the banner and/or chants were aimed at British chemical company INEOS, the club’s new owners led by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe who completed their purchase of Nice on Monday.
Seems there were two offending banners. One used a play on the word ‘pédale’, which means ‘pedal’ (a reference to Nice’s new owners, INEOS), but is also a pejorative name for a gay person. Second one was a message to LFP that said: “FULL STANDS FOR A MORE GAY STADIUM.”
— Tom Williams (@tomwfootball) August 28, 2019
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It’s the second such (high-level) incident to have occurred in France after French referee Mehdi Mokhtari stopped a Ligue 2 game between Nancy and Le Mans due to homophobic chanting, and the second such instance this week after Brazilian referee Anderson Daronco stopped the first-division game between Vasco da Gama and Sao Paulo for homophobic chanting.
GAME SUSPENDED
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) August 28, 2019
The @ogcnice and @OM_English players are instructed to leave the field due to the appearance of a homophobic banner in the stands. #OGCNOM pic.twitter.com/G6FuaZ7yQv
French football officials have presumably made it abundantly clear to the country’s referees that eradicating homophobic abuse — along with racist abuse, perhaps — is a high priority. Mokhtari and Turpin wasted no time in halting their respective fixtures, which could prove the most effective method for putting an end to various types of abuse, at least inside stadiums.
