At last season's French Coupe de la Ligue Final between Paris St. Germain and Racing Club de Lens, controversy overshadowed the game's result.
Lens are a team from the Pas de Calais region in the north of the country. The town itself is renowned for its mining tradition and is surrounded by the scars of its industrial foundations. Lens have a reputation as one of the best supported clubs in France.
PSG, based on the west side of the capital, won the match 1-0 with a controversial last minute penalty. During the match a massive banner was rolled out across almost the entire length of the pitch, positioned directly in front of the television cameras covering the match and in full view of the Lens end.
The banner (or banderole in French) had various insults aimed at Ch'ti's, people from the north of the country. (In other words, Lens territory.) The region was recently featured in the highly successful French comedy film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis.
The banner remained in situ for the majority of the second half. The controversy went as high as President Sarkozy. Following numerous complaints PSG were barred from defending their win and effectively thrown out of this season's competition. The section of PSG supporters held responsible was disbanded.
The tense situation wasn't helped when on the last day of the season Lens were relegated to Ligue 2 while PSG just scraped survival. After the draw for the first round of this season's Coupe de la Ligue was made PSG won their appeal and were re-instated. The draw had to be made again.
Last night Lens won away at Ligue 1 Sochaux with an extra time goal. In tonight's match PSG marched past Nancy at the Parc des Princes 2-0. In an act of ironic inevitability PSG will now play Lens in Paris in the next round.
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