Liverpool fans unfairly blamed for Champions League final chaos, inquiry finds
A French Senate report's found authorities blamed LFC fans to "divert attention" from the failure of the organisers
Last updated 13th Jul 2022
Liverpool fans were unfairly blamed for the chaos which surrounded last season's Champions League final in Paris to "divert attention" from the failure of the organisers, a French Senate report has found.
The Senate has heard from Reds supporters, along with French police and government officials and UEFA's events director, Martin Kallen, since the match on May 28, which kicked off more than half an hour late.
France's interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, initially laid the blame for the delays at the door of ticketless Liverpool supporters for the build-up of crowds at the perimeter of the Stade de France, with police also using tear gas on fans as they waited to gain entry.
The provisional report of its findings, published on Wednesday, stated:
"It is unfair to have wanted to make supporters of the Liverpool team bear the responsibility for the disturbances that occurred, as the Minister of the Interior did to divert attention from the inability of the state to adequately manage the crowds present and to curb the action of several hundred violent and co-ordinated offenders."
The report found the chaos had been caused by a "chain of events and malfunctions" in the days and hours leading up to kick-off.
The report added: "The systems put in place had major shortcomings with regard to the intelligence (absence of hooligans but presence of delinquents in large numbers), the transport routes for supporters (removal of a drop-off route at the surroundings of the stadium) and insufficient communication.
"It is not only in the execution that problems arose. Upstream, the crisis scenarios were insufficiently worked on and did not demonstrate the necessary flexibility in the face of so many unanticipated events."
The Senate report said the French authorities must learn the lessons from the "serious collective failure" which had occurred and apply them to the hosting of next year's Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Olympic Games.
The report described UEFA's management of the ticketing system as "unsuitable" and criticised a lack of training for stewards, who it said were quickly overwhelmed.
UEFA had failed to put in place a system in advance to detect the extent of forgeries. The report said the French federation had identified 2,471 counterfeit tickets, 1,644 in the southern sector of the stadium dedicated to Liverpool supporters.
It also said the decision to run a first check on ticket validity at pre-screening security points had led to checkpoints becoming blocked.
The Senate recommended the introduction of tamper-proof ticketing for such major events, and improved co-ordination between stewards and police.
The reduced service on the RER B train network also put added pressure on RER D, which had to cope with 36,000 fans instead of 10-15,000.
That, combined with a lack of relief lanes at the exit of the RER D station, led to a "crisis situation", the report said.
Policing was influenced by a "dated vision" of British fans, the report said, as officers prepared for an influx of hooligans, rather than a plan built around the enjoyment of supporters and their ease of access to the venue.
"Welcoming supporters in a festive setting had been neglected," it stated.
The report also highlighted fan criticisms over exiting the stadium, Real Madrid supporters pointing out the poor lighting and walkways strewn with broken bottles.
"All this suggests that the spectator experience has not been taken into account by the event organisers," the report said.
It recommended greater dialogue between organisers and supporters' groups at future events.
Security personnel were slow to intervene in acts of theft by local delinquents - and to remove them from the stadium forecourt - owing to the congestion caused by transport and ticketing issues, the report said.
The presence of these delinquents was "predictable", the report said, but the number of police assigned to fight crime was not sufficient.
The report was told 209 officers had been deployed to cover the possibility of crimes being committed, less than a third of the number on duty for the same purpose at the France v Denmark Nations League match last month.
It found that even if the use of tear gas was to prevent an even more serious situation developing, it had only been necessary because of a failure to anticipate the problems which were encountered and "tarnished the image of France".
The dispersal method used "seemed particularly aggressive" the report said, "to supporters from countries where (the use of tear gas) is not practised".
It contributed to spectators feeling they had been exposed to an excessive use of force and violence by the police.