http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jul/30/luzenac-french-fairytalehttp://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/08/ligue-2-just-added-a-21st-team-and-is-about-to-be.htmlFor anyone who's been following this story a bit, I found out in the paper yesterday that not only have they lost the fight to join Ligue 2, the clubs in the league from which they were promoted ( Ligue National) refused to have them back, and so now they will be playing 3 divisions lower down than last season!
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Strange if so though that Luzenac werent allowed to groundshare with a bigger club (Maybe it isnt done there) but to relegated them... its harsh but I guess thats because the League's start in two days and there are no other places for them in any higher Divisions.
Shame the Communists (Sorry UEFA) are staying quiet over this!!
For the last two seasons I've gone occasionally to watch Poiré sur Vie (about a 20 minute drive from me) play in the 'National' (3rd Division). Since I read that the clubs in this league didn't want Luzenec back I've been put off. I find it sickening but the whole thing has been swept under the carpet. I don't think I'll be going to Poiré sur Vie anymore. I'm tempted to write a letter to the club but I can't be bothered - shouldn't the real fans of these clubs be protesting? - what if they're next? I just don't understand these French football fans.
I think I'll just 'support' Luzenec instead now from a distance.
Still hits a nerve round these parts.
What kind of people are typically passionate about footie in France, in your observation?
The reason i ask is that I have never met one Frenchman in the normal course of life who is remotely interested in footie. Inevitably they would be middle class well educated types. But nowadays at least I meet plenty of English people who meet that description and are just as into football as I am. Looking at the French national team too, i just wondered whether its very much the game of the relatively disenfranchised working/immigrant classes, who may find it difficult to organise themselves. Lens is a team that are well supported despite being a relatively small place - but it is the industrial north. Whereas our friend from Tours has a club in a town where no one is much interested (according to Wikipedia)
Hope I don't cause offence with that stereotyping. I'm just trying to understand if French footie demographics are a bit different. You obviously live there and will know much more.
The majority of the people I meet on a day to day basis (other parents of school, fellow tennis players) seem to consider football and attending football matches as something akin to eating from a food bank or going to a strip joint or something. They talk of it like it's something dirty or beneath them.
The profile of a football supporter here seems to be a male, under 25, working class. They normally 'support' Marseille, (recently) PSG, or Arsenal. Other types are middle aged guys (like me), for example those hat I've had working on the house who reminisce of Platini, St Etienne and the like, but seem nevertheless a bit disillusioned with it all now (remember that the average French person dislikes anyone who's made money which accounts for all modern footballers).
The guys who really irritate are those that complain that football has sold its soul but then like to 'ride the wave' if France are doing well.
More people in France seem interested in the Rugby, and to my (again) bewilderment seem amazed that I don't. They say something like 'but you are English, how can you not like Rugby', a statement to which usually leads me to explain that the two sports were once one but that a general disagreement led to different rules being drawn up, and I'm in favour of the 'non cheating, non egg chasers' (sorry Rubgy fans) which in turn bewilders them but amuses me!
Lastly I'd like to state that I've never lived in one of what I consider to be the 'hotbeds' of French football which are Brittany, the North East (eg Lens & Lille), Marseille and St Etienne. Anwhere outside of these including Paris and Lyon (where I lived for 5 years during their successful period) and you are definitely surprised by the lack of passion compared to England.
Mind you i did remember one middle class Frenchman i know who is involved in football. Do you know the name Bernard Brochand? He was Mayor of Cannes but I think he stepped down in a corruption scandal. Anyway he is a PSG fan,maybe still a director, and unfortunately he was the European boss of the ad agency network when I worked for them in Prague my first two years here. First class twonk who only visited the new agency offices in Central Europe when PSG had a game in town. I crossed swords with him when I wanted to run a give up smoking campaign here.Pity I never met him, I could have asked him if he was a founder-supporter of PSG since their glorious past goes all the way back to ..er...1974.
Anyway, I've never heard of the guy you are talking about.
Well I guess i'm rationalising my intense dislike for them as a plastic club with no history. Fair, or not? I raided Wikipedia . Bernard Brochand was chairman from 1991-2001 (I now learn). He was the one who got Canal + to buy into them in 1991. He's a bigger knob than Andy Delort, BTW.
So they won their first title in 1985 (led by Gerard Houllier). Not exactly a long history, I'd argue, given the way people think of them now. And then there's the fan base with its far-right links and hooliganism record. That's bad enough but at least Millwall have always been Millwall, going back to the 20's, if you know what I mean. Even their hooligans are plastic, as I see it.
But maybe you'd argue that this is unfair.