“Deplorable actions”: paint thrown and equipment damaged, beIN Sports denounces the ransacking of its broadcast vans in Lorient

Les supporters lorientais ont laissé éclaté leur colère. MAXPPP – Gilles Bader

Le diffuseur de la Ligue 2 beIN Sports et la Ligue de football professionnel (LFP) ont condamné samedi le saccage et la dégradation de cars régie et de matériel destinés au match Lorient – Grenoble, plus tôt dans la journée.

“When the production teams arrived for the Lorient – Grenoble match, it seems that dozens of Grenoble supporters poured paint on the production van, where employees were located, and ransacked the equipment of an escort van after breaking into it”, a source inside beIN Sports told AFP.

“No place in football and in a civilized society”

“belN Sports condemns in the strongest terms the acts of violence perpetrated this morning in Lorient – at the time of the installation of our technical means for the broadcast of the FC Lorient/GF 38 match – of which our production partner and our collaborators were victims and which have no place in football and in a civilized society”, writes the media group in a press release.

“belN Sports has supported clubs and communities at all levels of French football for more than a decade”, underlines the media. beIN Sports says it is “working with the relevant authorities to ensure that appropriate action is taken, while fully considering its position regarding its ongoing broadcast partnership”.

During the delayed takeover at 2:20pm, beIN Sports journalists made mention of these “actions deplorables”. The LFP also “strongly condemned the malicious acts that occurred this morning”, in a separate press release.

“These serious incidents occur even though the LFP and beIN Sports confirmed yesterday that a meeting would be held with representatives of the National Supporters Association (ANS) to take stock of the situation”, next week, recalls the Ligue.

"The LFP and beIN Sports are convinced that the clubs are doing their utmost to ensure the safety of people and property so that the production teams can work in good conditions", she added. The 2024-25 Ligue 2 season began a week ago in a tense climate, with the LFP's decision, in agreement with broadcaster beIN Sports, to schedule most matches on Friday evenings and, depending on the day, other matches on Saturday and Monday, not going down well with supporters.

In a letter, beIN Sports justified its decision by saying that its “level of investment is only possible by scheduling matches on Friday, Saturday and Monday”.