Ref stops PSG-Lyon due to anti-gay chats from fans

The Ligue 1 match between Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon was briefly interrupted on Sunday due to anti-gay chants from PSG fans.

Referee Benoît Bastien stopped play in the 53rd minute at the Parc des Princes, with hosts PSG leading 2-1, after shouts were heard.

PSG captain Achraf Hakimi addressed fans in the Auteuil stand behind one of the goals to ask them to stop. A message reminding fans that discriminatory chants are prohibited was then shown on the stadium’s giant screens.

“The match may be stopped or even lost for the club,” the message read.

The game eventually resumed after a few minutes.

The chants in Paris were just the latest in a long line of similar incidents as French football authorities struggle to tackle the problem.

France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau suggested earlier this year that matches should be stopped when fans chant anti-gay slurs in stadiums.

Earlier this month, a French campaign group renewed calls for authorities to crack down on anti-gay chanting by soccer fans, saying Marseille supporters deflected anti-gay slurs “with complete impunity” during a home game against Monaco.

Anti-gay slurs, often heard at Ligue 1 matches, have long been tolerated by club officials and football authorities have struggled to find appropriate ways to tackle the problem.

In 2019, after a match at the Parc des Princes between PSG and Marseille in which home fans used anti-gay slurs, the league launched an action plan allowing spectators to report sexist, homophobic or racist incidents they witness. However, the abuse has not stopped, even intensified in recent months.

French clubs have been fined and the league’s disciplinary commission also ordered the closure of stands for similar cases in recent years. French law also provides for up to a year in prison and a fine of €45,000 ($47,600) when insults against homosexuals are made in public.

Last season, some PSG players received a one-match suspended sentence by the league’s disciplinary committee for offensive chants directed at Marseille after a home league game. Ousmane Dembélé, Hakimi, Randal Kolo Muani and Layvin Kurzawa were filmed hurling insults as they celebrated at the end of a 4-0 win against Marseille. The four players apologized.

That match was also marred by anti-gay chants from sections of PSG fans directed at Marseille players.