Fan’s racist abuse of match official leads to 1-point deduction for French soccer club Bastia
PARIS (AP) — French soccer club Bastia has been handed a one-point deduction after its second-tier game was disrupted when a fan racially abused an assistant referee. The French league says its disciplinary panel judged the case based on racial abuse of the match official, plus fans lighting fireworks and throwing one on the field. Points deductions in such cases have been requested for years by anti-discrimination groups working in soccer. Play was stopped for several minutes during Bastia’s game in December against Quevilly-Rouen Metropole. The game ended 0-0 and the sanction effectively took away took the point Bastia players earned.
