NICE’S Ligue 1 clash against Marseille was stopped for ten minutes because the referee spotted two homophobic banners. A sign which appeared to be held up from the Nice end was spotted by official Clement Turpin and Marseille players walked off the pitch. French football site Get French Football News tweeted: “Remarkable – Clement Turpin […]
NICE’S Ligue 1 clash against Marseille was stopped for ten minutes because the referee spotted two homophobic banners.
A sign which appeared to be held up from the Nice end was spotted by official Clement Turpin and Marseille players walked off the pitch.
French football site Get French Football News tweeted: “Remarkable – Clement Turpin has suspended tonight’s OGC Nice vs Marseille games 25 minutes in because of a banner viewed as homophobic by officials.
“Has been paused for at least three minutes. Unclear if it will restart or not.
“OM players have headed to the dressing room.”
Britain’s richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, completed his £91million takeover of Nice yesterday.
And it is believed one of the offending banners made reference to his chemical company Ineos, which also tookover and rebranded Team Sky in May.
One sign made reference to the word ‘pedale’, which means ‘pedal’ and is a derogatory term for a gay person.
A second banner read: “Full stands for a more gay stadium.”
Nice are managed by Arsenal and France legend Patrick Vieira and ex-Chelsea chief Andre Villas-Boas is in charge of Marseille.
This is the fourth French game to be stopped due to homophobia this season.
French FA president Nathalie Boy de la Tour came under fire earlier this year for saying homophobic chants were part of the culture of the sport.
She said: “What you hear in a stadium, you won’t hear it outside when you go shopping.
“In the stadium it’s not acceptable as such but it’s part of the folklore.
“I’m not making excuses. But when you talks about homophobic chants, for a lot of supporters, it’s part of the folklore.”
SunSport told you last night how a Brazilian referee won praise for stopping a top-flight game in the country due to fans’ homophobic chants.
