Nothing Casual about it

November 29 - 2006

For those who missed it, a quick recap of last week’s events in Paris:

• Paris Saint Germain met Hapoel Tel Aviv in a midweek UEFA Cup match.
• Throughout the match, PSG supporters taunted the 3000 or so Hapoel supporters with chants of “PLO,” “Hezbollah,” and “Down with Israel.” Fascist salutes were also seen.
• Hapoel Tel Aviv jumped out to a shocking 2-0 lead. PSG leveled at 2-2. Tel Aviv killed the giant, 4-2.
• The match ends. Hapoel supporters are held in the stadium for an hour and a half past the final whistle. Once released, they are met by PSG supporter groups shouting “Heil Hitler,” “Jews to the Gas Chamber,” and “Le Pen for President.”
• A large group of PSG fans spot Yaniv Hazut wearing a Hapoel scarf, and begin to chase him.
• A black undercover policeman steps in to protect Hazut, and the mob responds with chants of “filthy black.” They begin to beat the policeman, who pulls a gun and fires. Sadly, only one member of the mob is killed.

Though most media outlets are phrasing the issue as “France has a hooligan problem,” it seems like now would be a good time to address the larger issue: France is a stinking cesspool of racism. The simple fact a mob can mix support for a legitimate presidential candidate with chants of “filthy black,” and not be logically inconsistent, spells trouble for your country. Add this to the apparent ease with which French politicians question the ethnic makeup of Les Bleus, and hooliganism starts to look like the least of France’s problems.

Which is not to discount the hooligans themselves: these guys are bat-shit crazy. We did some searching and learned that many PSG supporters’ groups (collectively called Boulogne Boys) actively fashion themselves after 1980s English firms. Often they’re intertwined with skinhead groups. Plus they record their hooligan endeavors, run them through a French to English translating program, and post the unintentionally hilarious results on their homepage, pariscasuals.com. Observe the following account of pre-match activities in Bordeaux.

The wintry coolness obliges all the Parisians to join the pubs, a manager invites them to elect his establishment as cave of the capital for the weekend. The observed atmosphere is overheated, the motivation in its highlight, Boulogne is going to bang.

Regrettably the spirits of Bordeaux lauding the clean fight go off the rails, the telescopic sticks are released, a Parisian falls on the forehead (these tools are generally the own of cops). A Parisian thinking of a police intervention flees places on around thirty metres those are followed by approximately thirty five lads of Bordeaux, at the middle-redskins the middle ultras, which find suddenly an appearance of courage.

If the medieval poetry leaves you with a flimsy impression, maybe video of a PSG fan trying to headbutt his way through a barrier will sort you out:

The racism/hooliganism situation in France is not good. Perhaps we’ve been living out our fantasies in the Prem too long, because we’re astonished a website like pariscasuals.com even exists. The mere fact it does indicates the French FA and the French government have been asleep at the wheel. No one should be shocked by last week’s death or the circumstances surrounding it. Hopefully, however, it will inspire action. Otherwise, it seems a French Heysel is only a matter of time.