“We need to be clear. In a stadium, there are three categories: supporters, ultras, and hooligans. A spectator is either one or the other, but never two at the same time. We, at BSN, are Ultras.” The QED is signed by Gilles, one of the leaders of Brigade Sud Nice and willing spokesperson for the group.
OGC Nice and the Stade du Ray would be nothing without them. They have nearly 2,000 members, plus a thousand sympathizers. They occupy the entire south stand of the Nice stadium. They sing, cheer, and travel across France to support their aiglons. Gilles refines his definition of Ultras: “An ultra wakes up an ultra, goes to bed an ultra. All day, seven days a week and almost 24 hours a day, he thinks about Saturday’s match. After his work day, he meets up with other ultras to set up tifos, chants, choreographies, and the organization of the next match.” On Wednesday, seven members of the BSN board met. On the agenda: the final preparations for the friendly soccer tournament organized on Saturday. The meeting continues very late into the evening. A few drinks, glasses of rosé, bruschettas… The atmosphere is friendly and the passion for football is intense. A single question is enough for the tone to rise, for everyone to want to give their opinion. In the middle of the offseason, questions focus on Bakari Koné. The Ivorian striker is moving away from OGC Nice and getting closer to Olympique de Marseille. “We will applaud Hugo Lloris and Ederson but we will boo Koné” comes up during the discussion. Gilles regrets that Koné has started a standoff with the leaders but understands the lure of money. The debate on the Grand Stade is less animated. While BSN had campaigned to stay at Ray and for a stadium with a capacity of less than 30,000 seats, now the board members are resigned. The stadium will be built in the Plaine du Var. They will deal with it. They are in solidarity with the leaders of OGC Nice. A mutual solidarity especially on security issues: “It’s normal. They are competent people. They support us because our approach is legitimate.”
Their fight is not there. Neither the transfer window (“we trust Antonetti and we will always be behind our players if they fight on the field”) nor the Grand Stade. Their fight has a key date: May 17, 2008. BSN organized a demonstration of Ultras from France in Nice, gathering 2,000 people. Reminder of the demands: “We demonstrate for a set of essential and legitimate reasons: for freedom of expression in the stadiums; for equality of rights compared to civil life (against judgment disparities); against convictions for flares (courts); against the dissolution of associations (ministries); against preventive IDs (prefecture); against modern football and its excesses (league); against abuses of right and power (law enforcement); against football business (league, media, dubious agents, etc…); against the poor treatment suffered when traveling (reception, confinement, deprivations,…).”
After this demonstration, the ultra representatives were received by Bernard Laporte, Secretary of State for Sports. He acknowledged the demands. Frédéric Thiriez, president of the National Football League, came to meet the BSN for a short fifteen minutes. They are now waiting for an appointment with Michèle Alliot Marie, Minister of the Interior. The complaints mainly concern the harshness of police interventions: “We are beaten excessively. During travels, we are mistreated by the CRS. I’ll spare you the details of the searches we endure. The gendarmes are much more courteous.” The media are also targeted. The ultras feel stigmatized, used to sell papers. Gilles shares his point of view: “The Parisian banner during the League Cup final was a pretext. Nicolas Sarkozy was in the stadium. The media talked a lot about it. They then tried to balance it out. What I notice is that a few months earlier, the same words from a journalist at Le Figaro hadn’t raised any objections.” Regarding the bad image of BSN, Gilles has a response in numbers: “Last year, we had 17 trials. They resulted in 17 dismissals often with apologies from the tribunal president who didn’t understand what we were being accused of!”
The ultras are very wary. They don’t like being filmed. They are very careful about the topics discussed to avoid any inaccuracies that could be misinterpreted. “We thought we were getting a good article in the local paper but in the end the article turned against us” laments Gilles. The Ultras feel misunderstood. It is not easy to understand for an ordinary person, for those who are not regularly in the stands, those who do not travel, the difference between an ultra, a supporter, and a hooligan. We forget that the leaders of ultra groups manage 2,000 football enthusiasts, create social links, organize charity operations… In short, never forget the submerged face of the ultra iceberg.
This video is from the site Web TV Nice 
