Whenever we complain about the folks running football’s governing bodies, it’s worth remembering that it could be worse: politicians — real ones — could be in charge.

Witness last week’s events in Paris, where Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, summoned the head of the French FA and told him that, from now on, if a national anthem is booed before an international, that match is to be immediately called off.

Sarkozy was apparently incensed by events last Tuesday at the Stade de France, where Les Bleus were hosting Tunisia in a friendly. With players from both teams lined up side-by-side in a show of “brotherhood” during the anthems, several hundred in the 60,000-strong crowd loudly booed and jeered during La Marseillaise.

Sarkozy should not have been surprised. The last time France played one of its former North African colonies in a much-ballyhooed “peace match”, far worse happened. On October 6, 2001, 25 days after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, France hosted Algeria. Not only was the French anthem booed, hundreds of Algerian supporters stormed the pitch, forcing the game to be abandoned. There were anti-French and anti-Western slogans, as well as praise for Osama bin Laden.

Tunisia is not Algeria, but it didn’t take a genius to see that this match had the potential for trouble. Or, at least, the potential to be a target for a vocal minority.

In some ways, it doesn’t really matter if these people were second-generation Frenchmen of North African descent venting their anger at the facelessness of the banlieue, the emptiness of secular Western consumer societies and the latent racism they encounter, or if they were simply morons looking to cause trouble. Society’s problem has become football’s problem, at least in France.

But the biggest problem is the French Government’s stance. A primer in basic values such as free speech ought to suffice but, in this case, it doesn’t: a law in the French penal code forbids the insulting of “national symbols”. So let’s leave the ethical issues aside and focus on the practical: how do you tell 60,000 supporters who have bought tickets and travelled from far and wide that because a handful of idiots booed a song, they should all exit the ground quietly and go home? Does that seem like a safe or clever idea, Monsieur Sarkozy?

Jean-Pierre Escalettes, the president of the French FA, showed about as much backbone as a jellyfish in standing up to Sarkozy, claiming such an evacuation would be “difficult, but not impossible”. Thankfully, Michel Platini, the Uefa president and a former France international no less, called Sarkozy’s decision for what it was: “absurd”. “Once again, football has been taken hostage by politicians because this business about the whistling has become a political affair which has nothing to do with sport,” Platini said. Bernard Laporte, the former France rugby union head coach and now the French junior sports minister, prolonged the French farce by telling Platini to “mind his own business”.

Well, it is Platini’s business. The French anthem is played at matches in which the France football team compete. The French national football team are part of the French FA, which is a Uefa member nation. And Platini is the president of Uefa. Besides, when Sarkozy and his henchmen frogmarch teams off the pitch, it won’t be only France who will be affected, it will be their opponents as well. Along with the TV companies who bought the rights to the match, the companies who bought advertising slots, the supporters who travelled to the game and a host of others.

These sweeping kneejerk grand gestures are what you would expect from an eight-year-old or a publicity-seeking politician. And it is great to see Platini treating them as such.

Booing an anthem is rude, uncouth and disrespectful. Cancelling a game because of it is dangerous, irresponsible and, ultimately, defeatist, because it raises a white flag to the miscreants. Here is a solution for Sarkozy, Laporte and the rest of the gang. Since, as Monsieur Laporte reminds us, “under French law booing the national anthem is a crime punishable by a 7,500 euro [about £5,834] fine and six months in prison”, why, instead of sitting in the stands, looking shocked and shaking his head with righteous outrage as he did last Tuesday, didn’t he go and arrest the guilty parties?

France’s next home game is on November 19, a friendly against Uruguay in Paris. I sincerely hope that one or more people stand up and boo La Marseillaise. Not out of disrespect but out of respect for basic civil rights and common sense.

Let them call Sarkozy’s bluff and see if he really has the courage to call off a game because of the harmless (if ugly) actions of a few individuals. And let Sarkozy explain why he had to go and punish 60,000 people instead of simply dealing with the few hundred who actually misbehaved.

And another thing...

Ranieri under pressure to turn things around in Turin

Juventus lie twelfth in Serie A after their loss to Napoli on Saturday night, which means the knives are out for Claudio Ranieri, their coach. It seems harsh after just seven league games, particularly since, last season, Ranieri took newly promoted Turin club all the way into third place and a spot in the Champions League.

Meanwhile, José Mourinho, the Inter Milan coach, hinted last night that his next job will be in England. “I love the English league and I’ll definitely return one day,” the former Chelsea manager said. He denied reports linking him with Liverpool.

Rethink is in order

Didier Drogba is on the five-man shortlist for the African Footballer of the Year award. It’s a bit of a brave choice, given that he has said that he wants nothing to do with the prize.

Drogba is upset that, last year, when he was the hot favourite to win it, he was told that unless he travelled to the awards ceremony in Togo, it would go to somebody else. The Ivory Coast striker, who was due to play for his country in an African Cup of Nations quarter-final two days later, elected to stay and train with his national team and the prize duly went to Frédéric Kanouté.

It seems pretty obvious that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) needs to rethink this. An accolade that is based partly on attendance is worthless.