The Parc des Princes is once again in the spotlight after a match against Olympique de Marseille. On Sunday, PSG won 5-0 in the 21st round of the 2025-2026 Ligue 1 season, and Parisian supporters, as always, displayed tifos, chants, and banners to taunt their opponents. But the “folklore” argument doesn’t sit well with Aurore Bergé. The Minister Delegate for the Fight Against Discrimination reacted on Sud Radio, in comments reported by Le Parisien.
“Sport deserves better than slogans that are unbearable, that hurt.”
“We need to stop considering homophobic insults, which are seen by millions of potential viewers and chanted in stadiums, as mere folklore,” Aurore Bergé stated on Sud Radio. “These are insults, and this trivializes them. (…) Sport deserves better than slogans that are unbearable, hurtful, offensive, and demoralizing to people who may then experience them in real life.”
“It’s up to the clubs and the Professional Football League (LFP) to act.”
Insults, “whether homophobic, racist, or anti-Semitic,” have “no place anywhere,” the politician asserted. For Aurore Bergé, it’s up to the clubs and the Professional Football League (LFP) to act to prevent this from happening.
It’s a sensitive issue; we don’t want to hurt anyone. Let’s state the obvious: we are against all forms of discrimination. We can understand the fans who point out the traditional banter in football, without meaning any harm to those who might feel targeted. But the real concern is if some people are genuinely hurt by the words or ideas used in this banter, which can take many forms.
Now, we must also be wary of this fight that some are waging on behalf of those who might be affected, when these very people don’t see the harm that politicians and others are trying to uncover. It’s complex; the issue deserves far more than a few occasional sanctions or a few days of public pronouncements about football that only serve to obscure the underlying cause.
We should crack down in all stadiums on all chants that could be considered discriminatory. Or, we need genuine reflection, in-depth dialogue between football and associations, to find a middle ground. In any case, it’s not just up to the clubs and the league to address discrimination. The problem exists in football, but it doesn’t originate in the sport itself. It’s much broader. The solution won’t come solely from football or sport, even though it’s a tool in the fight against it.
