Fan's death latest blow to violence-tainted PSG

PARIS, Nov 24 (Reuters) The death of a Paris St Germain fan after a UEFA Cup game is the latest blow to a club that has been tainted for years by violent hooligans.

A policeman shot dead the fan and seriously injured another late yesterday following the French side's defeat by Hapoel Tel Aviv in the UEFA Cup.

''This is the darkest period in the history of the club,'' said PSG chairman Alain Cayzac. ''It is a period I am not proud of.'' Police sources have indicated the plainclothes policeman came to the rescue of a French supporter of the Israeli team who was attacked by PSG fans outside the stadium.

The capital side, founded in 1970, won two French titles in 1986 and 1994 and lifted the now defunct European Cup winners' Cup in 1996.

It has failed, however, to meet the expectations of their fans with only cup successes to celebrate in recent seasons while often making headlines for the wrong reasons -- the violence of its supporters.

The club has struggled for years to control a handful of hooligans, some of them known far-right sympathisers.

A journalist who witnessed the incident said a group of up to 150 fans who then turned on the policeman were shouting racist taunts and nationalist slogans such as ''Red, White and Blue, France for the French!''.

BITTER RIVALRY A French neo-Nazi who tried to shoot President Jacques Chirac during the Bastille Day parade in 2002 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison was associated with a radical group of PSG fans.

Violence by PSG fans has often been related to their bitter rivalry with Olympique Marseille. The clashes between the two sides are always played under tight scrutiny and have regularly been marred by incidents.

A Marseille supporter was paralysed after being hit by a seat thrown by PSG hooligans during a game between the two sides at Parc des Princes in 2002.

Pierre Blayau, then the PSG chairman, said in February the club had been ''taken hostage'' by rival groups of soccer hooligans who ransacked a motorway service station on their way back from a match.

''The problem is that these people claim to belong to official groups of supporters who can't control them any more'', Blayau told Reuters then.

Thirty PSG supporters were banned from their Parc des Princes stadium in the wake of the incident.

France recently passed a law to tackle violent soccer fans and French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy said additional measures would be introduced to the national assembly as soon as possible.

PSG's sulfurous reputation probably played a role in the decision by pay-TV channel Canal Plus, who owned the club, to sell it to a group of investors in April.

The struggling Paris club, who lie 14th in the 20-club Ligue 1 standings, 21 points behind leaders Olympique Lyon, visit Nantes on Sunday.

''We will try to show in Nantes that PSG are not dead, from a sporting point of view,'' said chairman Cayzac, adding he had no immediate plans to part company with coach Guy Lacombe.

REUTERS PDS RAI1900