Domenech Gets Fair Play Award. No, Really.

According to FIFA.com, on Thursday France coach Raymond Domenech received the Attitude Fair-Play award for 2006, given out by l’Association Française pour un Sport sans Violence et pour le Fair-Play (AFSVFP). (Just like it sounds — the French Association for Sports Without Violence and for Fair Play.)

Raymond received the award for convincing France fans not to commit mayhem against Italy and their supporters when they came to Paris for the Euro 2008 qualifier in September, two months after World Cup. (Of course, it may have helped that France thrashed Italy that day, 3-1. That generally goes a ways toward putting fans in a happier and less violence-prone mood.)

I would chuckle at all of this, except that there’s not a lot of humor in the Paris incident a couple of weeks ago where an angry mob of Paris St. Germain fans attacked someone who was apparently a fan of the Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv. In a Paris McDonald’s. (Yes, McDonald’s. I could not make this stuff up.) Which led to police shooting into the crowd, killing one France fan and injuring another.

So I guess appeals for non-violence need to be frequent, as well as game- and country-specific. So you go, Raymond!

And to add a bit of surreality to the moment… Well, perhaps I’m translating this wrong, but it appears to me that Promotion 2006 was made particularly special by a prize to “la Mutuelle des toreros landais.” Which seems to be an insurance-type fund for French bullfighters?

Because we all know that THERE’s a sport dedicated to non-violence.