Some great points have been presented here both for and against disrespecting the National Anthem. As a Canadian this problem is not exclusive to France,
when ever our poor National Soccer team plays it’s a road game for them!!!
I think it goes far beyond just cheering the opposition for having roots there, the problem is the Canadian government for overly promoting multi-culturalism
to the point that leaves a society with no common threads and unity.
Well Hockey and Beer are the pillars, I mean Hockey and non-alcoholic beer
(for Muslim citizens!) are the pillars of the Canadian society.

The night of the match against Austria was my first night in Paris and I
was shocked that no one and I mean not one French citizen was wearing the jersey and I had a tough time finding a cafe that was showing the match.
Now don’t forget the Domenech factor ! LOL
Integration of all cultures will take time as history been teaching us, from the time that the Irish immigrated to the U.S.A. very similar to when the Portuguese and the Italians immigrated to Canada of which now they have their own prospering communities in Canada.
The hatred is deeply rooted and the French government should stop their open door policy until they can improve the current situation. Specially when you’re inviting guests who seem to be quite ungrateful and whining.
As someone who migrated to Canada 31 years ago, whining and booing the National Anthem is a feeble and childish attempt to making effective changes, and does nothing but ruining the electric atmosphere of the match.

Sam: And saying France’s relations with its former colonies are “complex” goes way beyond sugar-coating.

I don’t think I agree with you. France’s liberal immigration policies for citizens of its former colonies go far beyond what is allowed by most European countries. They could have much more closed immigration policies, but they don’t. On the other hand, they could work much harder to help iimmigrants assimilate, but they don’t. To me, this is “complex.”

In particular:

Je ne vois pas dans les sifflets qu’on a entendus au Stade de France un manque de respect ou une insulte à la France mais simplement des manifestations contre un adversaire d’un soir, en l’occurrence l’équipe de France, que l’on veut battre. (…) Une fois encore, le football est pris en otage par le monde politique car cette histoire de sifflets est devenue une affaire politique qui n’a rien à voir avec le sport.

Kinda what some of the Offside readers have been saying already, but it’s nice to see a French person who’s up there in “upper management” thinks the same thing.