Widespread condemnation at jeering of French national anthem

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Despite a deepening global financial crisis and the normal lives of everyday people under threat from the collapse of the worlds banking industry, there was clearly only one thing that could make the front pages of the national newspapers last week.  Jeering football fans.

The game in question was a friendly international between France and Tunisia at the Stade de France, and the culprits are thought to have been mainly Paris residents of North African origin who live in the area around the national stadium.  As Paris-born singer Lââm, whos parents are Tunisian, sang the Marseillaise, she was jeered and whistled continuously.

The 50,000 strong crowd was dominated by people of Tunisian and North African origin, and the jeering continued as the players were announced, with the most vociferous response reserved for France player Hatem Ben-Arfa, of Tunisian parentage but choosing to play for France.

In response, President Sarkozy ordered via the Health and Sports Minister Rosalyne Bachelot, that "any match in which our national anthem is whistled will be stopped immediately", while Interior Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie ordered police to track down the worst offenders using TV and CCTV footage.  Sports Minister Bernard Laporte suggested that no further games should be played against Tunisia, Algeria or Morocco in Paris until further notice.

President of UEFA, Michel Platini described the plans to stop matches as ‘absurd'.  He told Le Monde newspaper "If you start halting matches because there are whistles during the anthem then you could also halt a match as soon as a player is jeered or a goalkeeper is booed after a clearance.  It's absurd."  He continued "once again, football has been taken hostage by politicians because this business about the whistling has become a political affair that has nothing to do with sport."

"Thirty years ago, when I played with the France team, the Marseillaise was whistled at every venue.  But at the time politicians were not interested in football and it didn't upset anyone."

President of the French Football Federation Jean-Pierre Escalettes acknowledged that halting a match would not be easy, but conceded "evacuating a stadium when the national anthem is jeered is now something we have to do."  He had earlier told Mr Sarkozy that he would not take responsibility for "dumping 50,000 people into the street just like that, without warning."

For anyone interested the score finished 3-1 to France, at which point many people had already left the stadium.