Outrage over "shameful" whistling at France-Tunisia football match

It's not often that politicians from Left and Right agree on something, but that's pretty much the case here after last night's international football match between France and Tunisia.

There was nothing at stake in terms of qualification for the 2010 World Cup. The match was supposed to be a friendly between two countries.

But it was the whistling that accompanied the singing of the French national anthem, la Marseillaise, before the match started, that has made the headlines and turned what should have been a 90 minutes of the "beautiful game" into something definitely uglier.

The French Football Federation (FFF) must have known that there was likely to be trouble of some kind. Home games between France and north African countries seldom pass without incident.

In October 2001 against Algeria, there was jeering and whistling before the game started and a pitch invasion afterwards. And in November last year a there was a similar reaction during the playing of this country's national anthem when France played host to Morocco.

The FFF had taken measures of sorts before last night's match to try to prevent a repetition of any such occurrence.

It had invited Franco-Tunisian singers, Lââm et Amina, to sing the national anthems of the two countries and the players were asked to take to the pitch of la Stade de France hand in hand in a show of "fraternité".

But even as Lââm began with the opening line "Allons enfants de la patrie" the whistling started in the stadium.

Anyone watching from the comfort of their sitting rooms will have writhed in embarrassment, as the singer belted out the words to the very end, and all the football commentators could say when she had finished was that once again, the lack of respect shown during the singing of the French national anthem had been "completely humiliating" and there was no other words for it.

The whistling didn't stop at the singing of national anthem. For the duration of the 90 minutes it continued whenever French players - many of whom are of north African origin and some of whom of Tunisian origin - were in possession of the ball.

The commentators might have been lost for words at the time, but the day afterwards there have been plenty exchanged throughout the media.

The match, or more accurately the whistling has dominated television news. There have been reports in all the national newspapers and listeners have rung in to radio programmes to express their indignation, shame and explanations as to what had occurred and why it had happened.

Leading the debate of course have been the country's politicians, who have had a fair amount to say on the subject.

Appearing in national radio in the morning, the prime minister, François Fillon, said that the game should have been delayed immediately the whistling started.

"Organisers have to find a solution," he said. "I think that games should be interrupted when national anthems - no matter for which country - are whistled at in this way.

"It's an insult for the players and for the country."

Fillon wasn't alone in his condemnation. In a written statement, the national secretary of the Socialist party, Razzy Hammadi, agreed that the whistling had been "unacceptable".

"Even if France was for many years a political and colonial power in Tunisia, and even if the French of Tunisian origin and in general or north African origin are all too often the victims of discrimination and police harrassment, it's inappropriate and humiliating to whistle during the national anthem," he wrote.

Further to the Left, the former minister of sport and leader of the Communist party, Marie-Georges Buffet, who was present at the match said to say that she was scandalised by what had happened was to ignore the reasons behind the whistling.

"It's an expression of the sort of suffering that's going on in this country at the moment," she told national radio.

Answering calls from some politicians that the match should have been interrupted, Noël Le Graet, the vice president of the FFF said that it would have been a mistake to have stopped the match.

"It was a regrettable incident," he said. "But it's always better to play the match and to present a strong symbol."

And what did the national coach, Raymond Domenech, have to say in response to the debate raging in the French media? Very little.

His only comment when asked about the incident was that he had been "moved" by the singing of the national anthems and a "little deaf" for all the rest.

Perhaps that's not so surprising as Domenech is often the target of media ridicule especially since after guiding a talented team to an early exit in this year's Euro 2008 in Switzerland, rather than offering a mea culpa, he popped up on national television and proposed to his long time partner and sports presenter, Estelle Denis.

The team's recent loss to Austria and a weekend draw to Romania - both group qualification matches for the next World Cup in South Africa- haven't really endeared him to French football fans, but all the same he has been confirmed as the national coach until 2010.

Domenech might not have wanted to get involved in the debate, but the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, certainly did.

He hauled in the president of the FFF, Jean-Pierre Escalettes, for a lunchtime tête à tête and an explanation as to what had happened.

The outcome of that meeting as presented by the minister of sport, Roselyne Bachelot, shortly afterwards was that in future, all friendly matches in which there was "insulting whistling" during the playing or singing of the French national anthem would be stopped immediately and any government ministers present would leave the stadium.

"Furthermore," she told reporters "any future friendlies between France and the other country involved would be suspended for a period to be determined by the president of the French football federation."

The result of the game, which has been somewhat lost in the polemic, was a 3-1 win for France.