Derby de la Mediterranée - the fierce rivalry explained
Tue, Aug 24.21
18 months is a long time for fans to wait until they can attend a football match, let alone a highly-charged derby.
The scenes at the Derby de la Mediterranée on the weekend were nothing short of extraordinary. With around 15 minutes left to play Dimitri Payet lined up to take a corner kick next to the Ultras Populaire Sud. The Nice Ultras launched projectiles at Payet with a water bottle hitting him flush in the back. The bottle hit Payet with so much force that he still had a mark on his back post-game.
Payet let his frustrations get the better of him and retaliated by throwing two bottles back. With the rest of his Marseille teammates and staff by his side to back him up - all hell broke loose.
A large group of the Nice Ultras entered the field of play to remonstrate with the opposing players. Like a flash the benches of both teams cleared out onto the pitch like a baseball style punch up. It wasn't long before the Allianz Riviera pitch resembled a royal rumble style event.
🤯🤯🤯 This is the INSANE moment @OM_English star @dimpayet17 throws a plastic bottle BACK at @ogcnice_eng fans, sparking a wild pitch invasion which brought their @Ligue1_ENG clash to a premature end | report + highlights 👉 https://t.co/hwoA4Q0AhD pic.twitter.com/lpXBsMytcB
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_AUS) August 22, 2021
Authorities tried to keep the Ultras and players separated while also keeping an eye on Marseille manager Jorge Sampaoli. Big Jorge was proper losing it on the bench! So much so that he had to get held back by two former players and was almost bursting out of his tee shirt. Unreal.
If big Jorge wasn't able to leave his mark on the Nice Ultras, one of his assistant coaches tried to make up for it. People do unbelievable things in the heat of battle and the assistant lost it for the world to see. Note to any brawlers out there - don't wear a bright orange high-vis during a fight on live TV. The coach charged in from the bench and laid out a Nice Ultra who, although got back up, Nice claim is still in hospital.
The referee had no choice but to suspend the game and this was when things got even more interesting. After more than 90-minutes of talks the referee announced that the game would restart. Marseille's president, who was also involved in an altercation, decided that his team would not restart the match. The result? Match abandoned and a 2-0 home win awarded to Nice even though their Ultras ended up on the pitch. Crazy, right?
Jorge Sampaoli is really wanting to throw down and knock someone out.
— TWDTV (@TWDTV1) August 22, 2021
Marseille and now Nice squads having a real shuffle now. Basile Boli also wanting to uppercut someone.
Just wow. pic.twitter.com/yHcVRs0tIM
You could argue that Marseille knew what they were doing by not showing up for the restart. Did they see possible sanctions on the cards for their rivals? Or did they actually believe it was not safe to restart the game even after authorities said it was? You can't blame them if it was the latter given what we all saw took place. Nice are trying to though...
"While nothing can excuse the actions of a few individuals guilty of throwing bottles onto the pitch," a statement read, "There is no doubt that it was the attitude and actions of several members of Olympique de Marseille that saw the incident escalate out of control.
"First of all, two experienced members of the OM playing staff lost control and threw projectiles directly into the nearby crowd of spectators, then one of Jorge Sampaoli assistant coaches crossed the field to attack and knock out a supporter, who of course should not have been there, but nevertheless remains in hospital."
You might have seen this crazy footage and thought to yourself, why? There is deeply-engrained tension between the two clubs and their Ultras.
Although Marseille's biggest rivals are PSG, this local clash is very intense. The Mediterranean Derby is always categorised as 'high risk' whenever they meet. That's even with away fans banned from entering the stadium.
For a deeper look into how passionate Marseille's fans are check out this video from the crew at Copa 90.
Marseille's Ultras, Commandos Ultra ’84, are the oldest group in France. They operate with anti-fascist ideologies that stem from how cosmopolitan the city is. On the flip-side, some Nice fans have links to far right groups. It's no surprise to see reports that one of the Nice Ultras on the pitch was wearing a US Confederate flag on his shirt. Given the backgrounds of the two groups and the us vs them mentality of Ultras - these two don't mix.
Julien Laurens of ESPN summed up the Derby well on the Gab & Juls Show podcast stating: "They hate each other. When i was a kid the story was if you drive your car to the Nice game with Marseille number platers on fans would burn it and vice versca."
It's not the first suspension of a game between these two clubs either. Nice Ultras unfurled homophobic banners during the game back in 2019. This caused the game to be stopped for 10 minutes.
The track record of bad behaviour could come back to bite Nice. Disciplinary talks are set for Wednesday with both clubs having to front up. It is already clear that the stand home to the Ultras Populaire Sud won't be open for the next 4 Nice games.
Expect Nice to get a very hostile reception at the Stade Velodrome when the two sides meet again in March.
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