There will officially be 2,816 supporters of West HamThursday (9pm) in Parc OL, in the parking lot reserved for them, for the quarter-final second leg of Europa League† But as predicted popular zeal last week at the London Stadium (60,000 seats sold in four days, a record time for the English club), they are much more numerous to attend this European shock in Décines, where the crowd should be around 55,000 spectators, as last month against Porto.
From April 7, the day of the first leg (1-1) in London, the prefecture of Rhone published an order banning access to the OL Park and its surroundings, Thursday, April 14 from 8 a.m. to midnight, “to anyone who claims to be a West Ham supporter and not in possession of a ticket purchased from the West Ham club.” This prefect decree mentions the risk that “1,000 to 3,000 Englishmen will travel to Lyon to support their team and watch the match attend without a ticket, or in possession of tickets other than those sold by the West Ham club”.
Tickets are on sale again by OL
“English supporters outside official travel will be handed over to the police in case of non-compliance with the Prefectural Order,” announced Xavier Pierrot, OL’s deputy general manager in charge of the stadium. OL tells 20 minutes to address the issue immediately as more than a thousand Hammers supporters canceled the tickets they had bought for the match in the past few days. “These are being put back on sale,” announces the Lyon club, which has therefore found a way to establish that many tickets had not been purchased by fans of Anthony Lopes and his partners.
An episode reminiscent of the email received of OL, in November 2018, by Saint-Etienne supporters who planned to attend the derby in Décines despite a similar decree from the Prefect: “Since your email address contains elements suggesting that you AS Saint Etiennewe inform you that all tickets purchased by this customer account have been canceled and you will be refunded as soon as possible”. So, have [email protected] emails betrayed West Ham fans?
