The Victor case, reported with particular attention by L’Équipe newspaper, is a troubling example of the potential drifts of French football disciplinary bodies. The incident, which saw a Stéphanois supporter, Victor, unjustly accused of burning a smoker in an ASSE match, reveals an alarming trend: sanctions imposed without regard for the truth, sacrificing innocent individuals in the name of a failed disciplinary procedure. The finding is bitter: a smoker, a designated supporter, blind justice.

The course of events is apparently simple. During a match between AS Saint-Étienne and Troyes, a number of fumigants were lit, resulting in the logical sanction of closing a stand for the club. In an attempt to obtain leniency from the LFP, ASSE filed a complaint against several alleged supporters identified by video surveillance. Victor, a mere spectator and fired in a club in the Loire, found himself unfairly trapped in this machination. Despite the acquittal by the court and the lack of formal evidence linking it to the facts, the FFF Disciplinary Commission suspended two games, followed by an increase in the penalty to ten games by the High Appeal Board, arguing that the absence of criminal proceedings did not guarantee the absence of disciplinary misconduct.

The National Olympic Committee finally proposed the annulment of the sanction, stressing a misinterpretation of the facts, a reversal of the burden of proof and an insufficient motivation for the decision. Unfortunately, this case is not isolated. Many supporters denounce a system of arbitrary denunciation, where clubs, in order to avoid collective sanctions, provide names sometimes at random. The Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee tried to justify himself clumsyly, recognizing the inability to verify the identity of the persons denounced. In the end, the Victor case sheds light on a dysfunctional system in which clubs break down their responsibilities, disciplinary commissions impose hasty sanctions, and justice is burdened with unnecessary procedures, leaving victims such as Victor to suffer the consequences of relentless justice.