Are amateur and / or professional football clubs responsible for disciplinary matters because of their supporters?
The latest incidents observed in Ligue 1 at the start of the 2021/2022 season remind us of the legislative and regulatory framework under which football clubs are responsible for their supporters during sporting events.
Are amateur and / or professional football clubs responsible for disciplinary matters because of their supporters?
The latest incidents observed in Ligue 1 at the start of the 2021/2022 season remind us of the legislative and regulatory framework under which football clubs are responsible for their supporters during sporting events.
The legislative and regulatory framework: disciplinary responsibility of clubs
The legislative mechanism of the Sports Code
« Art. 42-3. - The federations mentioned in article 17 issue regulations relating to the organization of all the events for which they are responsible, in particular in compliance with the rules defined in application of article L. 123-2 of the construction code and of the dwelling.
These federations cannot delegate their powers for the organization of sporting events requiring special security conditions. They must report the holding of such demonstrations to the authorities with police powers. The categories of events concerned by the provisions of this paragraph are determined by regulation. ».
Le decree n ° 93-708 of March 27, 1993 taken for the application of this article provided:
« Article 1
The Minister of the Interior and the Minister responsible for sports, after consulting the National Commission for the Safety of Sports Venues, determine the characteristics of sports events requiring special security guarantees, the conditions under which the sports federations determine the list thereof and the modalities according to which these federations send this list to the authorities holding police powers.
Article 2
When an event has been entered on this list, the federation or the internal body to which the federation has entrusted the management of professional activities, in application of the aforementioned decree n ° 85-238 of February 13, 1985, responsible for security and the conditions for the running of the event, may, at any time, impose on the material organizer any measure intended to ensure the safety of spectators and compliance with the regulations and rules mentioned in the first paragraph of article 42-3 of the Law of July 16, 1984 referred to above ».
Today, these provisions have been regrouped and codified in Articles L.331-1, D. 331-1 and D. 331-2 of the Sports Code.
Article L. 331-1 of the Sports Code now has:
« The delegated federations enact regulations relating to the organization of all events for which they are responsible in particular in compliance with the rules defined in application of article L. 143-2 of the construction and housing code ».
Article D. 331-1 of the Sports Code foresees:
« The Minister of the Interior and the Minister responsible for sports decide, after consulting the National Commission for the Safety of Sports Venues, the characteristics of sports events requiring special security guarantees and the modalities according to which the sports federations determine the list and send it to the authorities with police powers.
The federations cannot delegate their powers for the organization of these events. They report their behavior to the authorities with police powers. ».
Article D. 331-2 of the Sports Code specifies that :
« When an event has been entered on the list provided for in Article R. 331-1 (1), the federation or the professional league it has set up, responsible for the safety and the running conditions of the event, can, at any time, impose on the material organizer any measure intended to ensure the safety of spectators and compliance with the regulations and rules mentioned in Article L. 331-1.
(1): You must read D. 331-1 ».
The regulatory system of French football
Former article 129-1 of the General Regulations of the French Football Federation (FFF) provided:
« 1. The clubs that host are in charge of the field police and are responsible for disorders which could result before, during or after the match because of the attitude of the public, the players and the leaders or the insufficiency of the organization.
However, visiting clubs or playing on neutral ground are responsible when disorders are caused by their players, managers or supporters ».
This obligation now appears in Article 2 (The exercise of disciplinary power) of Annex 2: Disciplinary regulations and disciplinary scale of the FFF :
« 2.1 Reprehensible acts
(...)
b) Events relating to the safety of a meeting that occurred before, during and after the meeting or likely to impact its smooth running, as well as any disorders, incidents or incorrect behavior.
The home club is required to ensure, as organizer of the match, the safety and smooth running of the latter. It is in this capacity responsible for acts committed by spectators.
Nevertheless, the visiting club ou playing on neutral ground is responsible for the acts committed by his supporters.
(...)
In the event of failure (s) to the obligation of result with regard to the safety and the smooth running of the meetings which weighs, under the aforementioned conditions, on all football clubs, the disciplinary body, after having taken into account the measures of any kind effectively implemented by the club pursued to prevent disorders and to put an end to them as well as all steps taken by the latter subsequently, assesses the seriousness of the faults committed by the club and determines proportionate sanctions to these failures that should be inflicted on him.
It is thus up to the disciplinary body to determine the responsibility of the club with regard to the obligations which weighed on it on the day of the match and which depend on whether it was the organizer of the match, visiting or playing on the field. neutral, and to assess the seriousness of the acts committed insofar as it is the consequence of the deficiencies of the club ».
Moreover, concerning the professional football (League 1 / League 2), l'article 541 (Support for supporters (visited club / visiting club)) of Administrative Regulations of the Professional Football League has:
« 1. Club visited
To meet their obligations, clubs are required to set up a reception, control and security system inside the stadium.
The club visited is held responsible for incidents which may occur within the stadium due to the attitude of its players, educators, managers and spectators or insufficient organization.
In the event of demonstrations hostile to the referees, delegates, players and managers of the visiting team, as well as supporters, he must, together with the head of the police force, take all necessary measures to ensure the protection of the persons concerned, even outside the stadium.
Any oral or visual expression capable of provoking hatred or violence towards any person or group of persons is prohibited.
The introduction and keeping in the stadium enclosure of all objects which could contribute to it are placed under the responsibility of the visited club.
The visited club has an obligation to inform the visiting club of the conditions of reception of visiting spectators.
2. Visitor club
To simplify known movement of supporters of the visiting club, the latter is required to ensure the supervision of its spectators inside the visitor area within the sports arena. The system put in place by the visiting club must be proportionate and adapted to the specificities of each match. He is obliged to inform the club visited of the travel conditions of his supporters.
(...) Failure to comply with the obligations provided for in points 1) and 2) may be subject to the penalties provided for in article 4 of appendix 2 of the General Regulations of the FFF.
3. Any fault raised against players, managers and in general any person accredited by the club is sanctioned, by application of the disciplinary measures provided for in article 4 of appendix 2 of the General Regulations of the FFF ».
Disciplinary sanctions incurred by clubs
The aforementioned articles provide for (objective) liability of the clubs for the actions / excesses of their supporters, which are liable to be subject to the disciplinary sanctions listed in article 4 of Annex 2 of the General Regulations of the FFF.
Article 4 (Disciplinary sanctions) of Annex 2 of the General Regulations of the FFF provides:
« 4.1.1 With regard to a club
The following disciplinary sanctions may be pronounced against a club:
- the call to order;
- the fine ;
- the loss of one or more matches by penalty;
- the withdrawal of point (s) from the classification of a team in the context of an ongoing or future competition ;
- total or partial closed session ;
- closing the visitor area to the outside ;
- suspension of the ground;
- exclusion from competition;
- downgrading to lower division (s);
- the prohibition of access to the upper division;
- the prohibition to enter one or more team (s) in a competition;
- restriction or prohibition on recruiting (including non-solicitation agreements and advance contracts);
- the radiation ;
- compensation for material damage caused;
- a ban for a limited period of time from being affiliated with the FFF;
The sporting consequences engendered by the pronouncement of the loss by penalty of a match, of exclusion from competition or of striking off are provided for by the sporting regulations corresponding to the level of competition in which the target team is playing.
The competent sporting commissions are in charge of the modalities of application of the penalties of suspension of the field, of matches behind closed doors and of closing the visitor area outside. ».
Control of disciplinary sanctions by the administrative judge
The sanctions imposed (by the delegated Federation and / or by extension the Professional League that it has set up) with regard to clubs " are binding on the interested parties and constitute the use made by them of the public power prerogatives conferred on them "(CE, Section, November 22, 1974, n ° 89828, FIFAS judgment) whose litigation is the responsibility of the administrative judge (CE, Section, November 26, 1976, n ° 95262, French Cycling Federation judgment).
Although having initially considered that article 129-1 (old) of the General Regulations of the French Football Federation was understood as vicarious liability, and that it was contrary to the principle of value constitutional personality of sentences (TA Paris, March 16, 2007, n ° 0505016 / 6-3), the Council of State, seized for opinion then considered that:
« This article requires football clubs, whether they are organizers of a meeting or visitors, an obligation of result with regard to the safety in the course of the meetings. The organizing club is thus required to ensure the police of the ground and to take all measures allowing to avoid the disorders which could result, both before, during and after the match, of the attitude of its leaders, the players or the public. . The visiting club is responsible for the attitude of its managers, players and supporters. He is, in particular, responsible for disorders attributable to his supporters during a meeting.
Ignorance of these provisions may be subject to disciplinary sanctions by the federation, in particular pecuniary penalties as in the present case. (...)
The regulations in question thus penalize the disregard by the clubs of an obligation incumbent on them and which has been decreed by the sports federation of which they are members, within the framework of the organizational powers which are its own and in accordance with the objectives which it has set. are assigned. They do not ignore, consequently, having regard to the discretion recalled above, the constitutional principle of personal responsibility in criminal matters, which is applicable to administrative and disciplinary sanctions "(EC, 2rd and 7rd sub-sections combined, October 29, 2007, n ° 307736).
By this opinion, the Council of State however conditions the application of the responsibility of the club of its supporters. the principle of proportionality of the sanction and the fault :
« It is then up to the disciplinary bodies of the federation, after having taken into consideration the measures of any kind effectively taken by the club to prevent disorders, to assess the seriousness of the faults committed and to determine the penalties adapted to these breaches. ».
This is how the Administrative Judge, for example, annulled the decision of the disciplinary bodies which had sanctioned the Paris Saint Germain club with a complete exclusion from the Coupe de la Ligue for the 2008/2009 season, after PSG supporters deployed on neutral ground, an offensive banner during the final of the previous edition.
« Considering that in the event of disregard of the aforementioned provisions of article 129 of the general regulations of the FRENCH FOOTBALL FEDERATION, it is up to the disciplinary bodies of the federation, after taking into account the measures of any kind effectively implemented by the club to prevent disorders, to appreciate the seriousness of the faults committed by him et to determine the penalties proportionate to these breaches ; that it is up to them, in particular, to assess to what extent the seriousness of the acts committed by the supporters is the consequence of the deficiencies of the club "(Council of State, 2rd and 7rd sub-sections reunited, October 20, 2008, n ° 320111).
Measures that football clubs can take in order to protect themselves from overflows by their supporters
The Law provides for some preventive measures allowing clubs to protect themselves, such as:
- set up a safety palpation under conditions (art. L. 332-2 of the Sports Code);
- install a video surveillance system around and within the sports arena, after authorization from the prefect (95 Law 73-21 January 1995);
- refuse or cancel access tickets to sporting events to people who have contravened or contravened the provisions of the general conditions of sale or the internal regulations relating to the security of events (Law n ° 2016-564 of May 10, 2016 strengthening dialogue with supporters and the fight against hooliganism); and
- rationalize and secure the marketing of subscriptions in order to prevent them from being sold by supporters' clubs (art. L. 332-1-1 of the Sports Code);
Met on 6th October, 2021, LFP Disciplinary Commission made the following decisions:
Regarding the RC Lens:
- A suspended penalty point at RC Lens.
- Two total closed-door matches for RC Lens (these two total closed-door matches have already been purged as part of the precautionary measure).
Regarding LOSC:
- A suspended penalty point at LOSC Lille.
- Closure of the visitors' area of LOSC Lille for away matches until December 31, 2021.
Regarding Angers SCO:
- Closure for two matches including a suspended match at the Coubertin stand at the Raymond-Kopa stadium (the closed match has already been purged as part of the precautionary measure).
- € 20.000 fine for Angers SCO.
For the Olympique de Marseille:
- A suspended penalty point at Olympique de Marseille.
- Closure of the visitors' area of the Olympique de Marseille for away matches until December 31, 2021.
