A Nemours Middle School Bans Football Shirts to Calm Rival Fan Tensions

Honoré de Balzac middle school in Nemours, Seine-et-Marne, has written into its internal regulations a ban on wearing football shirts for the current school year. The measure, validated by the school board and confirmed by the Créteil academy, makes this establishment one of the first French public middle schools to take such an explicit step.

Behind the decision: repeated altercations in the schoolyard between students wearing the colors of rival clubs. Tensions notably pitted supporters of Olympique de Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain against each other, as well as Real Madrid and FC Barcelona fans. It was the school’s principal education advisor who had requested the ban at the end of the previous year, during the World Cup.

While several private middle schools already applied similar rules, Nemours’ initiative stands out in the public sector. Some students view the measure as “exaggerated,” while others understand it in the name of safety.

Commentator Juliette Briens, on RMC, argued for a rollout across all French middle schools, suggesting that shirts should join the list of outfits already banned in certain establishments. With each school remaining free to adapt its own internal regulations, no national directive is currently being considered.