French Football Under Microscope After Lyon Team Bus Attack

French football clubs on Monday came under intense pressure to bring their supporters under control after Lyon coach Fabio Grosso suffered cuts to his face when his team's bus was pelted with stones near Marseille's stadium. Sunday's Ligue 1 match between Marseille and Lyon was postponed after the attack on the bus on its way to the Velodrome. Grosso's face was left bloodied and his assistant Raffaele Longo was also injured. A club source said Grosso had also been experiencing dizzy spells.

TV pictures showed Grosso with a bandage on his head as he emerged from the stadium's medical room.

A photo circulating on X, formerly known as Twitter, appeared to show Grosso lying on a stretcher with a cut above his left eye.

The match was postponed at Lyon's request despite even though the stadium was already half full.

'Up to the clubs'

It was the latest incident in an already trouble-scarred season in France.

Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said the incidents were "unacceptable" and called on the clubs to take firm and swift action.

"If it is proved that supporters were involved... then clubs cannot remain on the sidelines of that," she told France 2 television.

"All the authorities in sport must be made responsible," she added.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said nine people had been arrested as a result of the incidents.

He said 500 officers had been on duty for the match between two of French football's best-supported clubs and so "there was no fault" on the part of the police.

"It is up to the club to manage its supporters," he said.

As the incidents took place outside the stadium, the clubs are not, in theory, liable.

The French league's director general Arnaud Rouger said: "This is not our responsibility, but as