Clubs to foot fan security bill

FOOTBALL clubs should pay for match security outside of stadiums according to the Minister of the Interior Brice Hortefeux.

He said that an average 11 riot police units were used for a Ligue 1 game – more for those considered high risk.

Last weekends match between Olympique de Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain needed 17 units to police supporters.

“I believe it's only fair that the clubs bear the real cost,” Hortefeux told the National Assembly.

Last week the head of OM Jean-Claude Dassier told Le Parisien that football matches needed to become calmer events.

“We can't go on mobilising so many squadrons of riot police just for a football match. All this costs money and I remind you that we pay a good part of it,” he told the newspaper.

OM paid €200,000 towards the cost of their game against PSG.

The president of the Union des club professionnels de football Jean-Pierre Louvel said this latest demand by the government plus the recent suppression of a tax break – the Droit à l’image collective (DIC) - could lead to strike action.