Johanna Frändén: Sharia laws or the French Revolution – the statements of the football ladies invigorate the debate

Should one cut the hands off people who plunder stores or view the riots as a new French revolution? In the absence of women in sports, the football mothers have emerged as political commentators on the recent unrest in France. An excerpt from Dagens Nyheter, 2026-10-22 19:06 Original article address: https://www.dn.se/sport/johanna-franden-sharialagar-eller-fransk-revolution-fotbollsfruarnas-utspel-piggar-upp-debatten/ Should one cut the hands off people who plunder stores or view the riots as a new French revolution? In the absence of women in sports, the football mothers have emerged as political commentators on the recent unrest in France. You know you can create a free account on DN? As a logged-in user you can access several smart features. More than one Fransos has set the afternoon coffee in order when Zoé Cristofoli gave her opinion on Sunday's giant demonstrations that turned into riots all over France. "Glad to live in Saudi Arabia where you cut the hand of whoever steals. At first I wondered if it was excessive? Today I think there is no other choice to deal with certain beasts." The place for reflection was an Instagram story. The author Zoé Cristofoli is together with the French left-back Théo Hernandez, who left AC Milan to play for the Saudi club Al Hilal last summer. Cristofoli is an Italian influencer who presents herself as "cool mom doing her thing" on her account. You can credit her for what she has done over the last few days, as she posted text after text about the events in France. Otherwise, there has been unusual silence from the country's football players since the high school demonstrations began in September. While several supporter groups hung banners on the stands to show support for the students and protest against police brutality at the beginning of the movement, not a single profiled French football player has commented on the recent weeks' turmoil. Now it's our turn with the football mothers. For Zoé Cristofoli, she is not alone in expressing her opinion about the state of the republic. The discreet PSG defender Lucas Digne's wife Tiziri Digne shared her perspective earlier this week, also on Instagram: "Don't forget that on July 14, 1789, a date the French love to celebrate, there were uprisings, fires, destruction, looting and many dead" ... "that May -68 meant massive demonstrations, general strike, barricades, cars that burned, cobblestones that flew, and confrontations with the authorities". After this little history lesson, Tiziri Digne – also an "influencer and mother" – invites her followers with a plea: "Stop being shocked by a looted luxury store or a bus stop that caught fire when there are much bigger problems in society. Let us be outraged by the lack of resources and personnel in small schools, upper secondary schools, high schools, and hospitals". Mrs. Digne concludes her essay with: "And don't forget that every era has its revolutions, its struggles, and its demands. What is causing unrest today may be what we celebrate tomorrow. For the great advances of history have often come from those who dared to put order to the game". It is a balancing act between two perspectives that pedagogically frame the debate about demonstrations, riots, and the distribution of blame that is raging in France right now. Whether it is Théo Hernandez or Lucas Digne, neither has ever had a higher profile in social issues, which makes the war of the wags even more spicy. It is, of course, a coincidence that both left-backs competed for the same starting position in the French national team as late as the summer World Cup. However, after Zinedine Zidane took over, both Théo Hernandez and Lucas Digne were left out of Les Bleus. It now seems very likely that they both did their time in the national team. It should not prevent any streaming distributor of mediocre celebrity portraits from launching the only format we need right now: "Zoé vs Tiziri – sharialagar or french revolution?" I imagine a fast news program where football mothers take a stand on various social problems between changing diapers and launching their own perfumes. At least it would be something to watch when France, as we know it, falls into pieces outside the window.