Metz, the French Ligue 1 club, plan to take legal action against a far-Right group of fans who made Nazi salutes at the end of the league match against Lyons on Saturday. This latest extremist incident in the French league follows displays of racism at a Metz game on February 16 and at a second division match on Friday involving fans of Bastia, the Corsican club.

The French League responded by asking players and officials from first and second division clubs to wear T-shirts bearing the message: “Racism . . . Never again!” before last weekend’s matches.

After their 2-0 defeat by Lyons, the league leaders, Metz players threw their T-shirts into a crowd of about 100 travelling supporters at the Stade Gerland.

Jacky Ancel, the Metz director of security, said that about ten of the club’s fans responded with Nazi salutes. “We will try and identify them and take legal action,” Ancel said yesterday.

Ancel said they are likely to belong to an extremist group of fans who call themselves “Identity Youth”. It is a branch within another far-Right group of about 40 Metz fans who call themselves “The Faction”.“They are people who like to fight,” he said.

Ancel said Metz’s options are limited because it can only ban the fans from games if they are caught red-handed breaking the law. “You can ban someone from a nightclub, but we can’t ban them [from a stadium]. It’s scandalous.”

Frédéric Thiriez, the president of the league, has criticised the lack of banning orders. “Today in France we only have 80 people banned from stadiums,” Thiriez said. “In England, there are 3,500. Thus, this law needs to be applied with much more severity.” On Friday, Bastia fans displayed a banner with racist insults before the match against Libourne Saint-Seurin. It was aimed at Boubacar Kébé, the Libourne player who is from Burkina Faso. However, Kébé refused to play because he had been racially insulted by some Bastia supporters during a home match on September 14, when he reacted with a gesture that led to him being sent off. The referee delayed the start by three minutes until the banner was removed and even though Bastia won 2-1 they could now be docked points.

The federation is also reviewing another racist incident involving Abdeslam Ouaddou, the Valenciennes captain, who played for Morocco at the African Cup of Nations last month. Ouaddou was racially abused at Metz’s Saint-Symphorien stadium and climbed into the stands to seek out the aggressor, who has since apologised but faces prosecution.