Listening to the comments made by the Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, on Canal Plus’s “Le Grand Journal” on March 1st, which implicated the Nice supporters, Maurice Cohen, President of OGC Nice, was surprised and felt compelled to respond by stating that NEVER, since he has been in this position (3 and a half years), has there been any occurrence of racist or anti-Semitic reactions, monkey chants or the like, heard at the Stade du Ray. He is therefore indignant about the Minister of the Interior’s conflation of the Parisian and Nice supporters.
Furthermore, he expressed his relief that the Minister of the Interior acknowledged the fact that it is impossible for clubs to manage what are essentially societal problems within 90 minutes at the stadium, but he firmly rejected any accusations of racist acts in Nice, noting that the only two incidents between rival supporters since his tenure at the club occurred outside the stadium and only during matches against PSG.
He continued by stating that real collaborative work has been done, and is ongoing in Nice, between the Club, the Prefecture, the Prosecutor’s office, and the Police to curb any excesses, but reminded that these issues are mainly related to the use of flares.
Finally, he fully endorses and is very satisfied with the government’s “anti-racist” bill, emphasizing the urgency of recognizing the gravity of these acts. He concludes by saying, “We have great supporters in Nice, difficult to manage, that’s true, but I absolutely refuse to let them be equated with certain pseudo Parisian supporters who use the stadium as a venue to spout their racial hatred.”
