L'Équipe - The French Collective Game
I’m French. Now you know. Nobody’s perfect. But I do love soccer.
We met again with the Italians during this World Cup… But only in front of the doors at the airport. However, the Squadra Azzurra’s luggage was not as heavy as ours: less humiliation, I guess.
Sarkozy steps in now: he wants an investigation on everything that happened before and while at the W.C. Then he promises a refoundation of the entire French soccer planet as well. Napoleon says, so be it. For once I may agree with him: the Germans did it several years ago, and the results are showing up: all their young national teams win all the international tournaments these days… Watch out Brazil for the 20th edition! (yes, for me this 19th edition is already over, remember?…)
France might be a soccer nation, but this sport has never been a religion as it is Italy, England or in Spain, not even like in Germany (a country where the games attract the most spectators in Europe this year, again a result of the general reorganization of their system; not to mention that Bayern is European Champion). I live abroad and I am amazed to read in the French papers these days the type of titles I could only find in the British tabloids before. The whole country fell into passion with soccer again! This national team has succeeded in one thing at least: now the whole country is united, hates Les Bleus, maybe even more than the entire world does–the Spanish, Brazilian, Irish -!!-, US, … newspapers were just a wee bit nicer to the French soccer team than the French ones).
So now this has become a national issue in France. Our image. Our honor. The players failed to represent their nation, as they should have. Their behavior (attitude?) was not worthy and should not allow them to wear the French jersey anymore or ever again. But some will -of course: the next game is in august for us –a ‘friendly.’
But to be honest, I am more shocked at the official declarations I read than at the behavior of our players. I am convinced there is a link between what is going on in France and what happened in South Africa.
No, Sarkozy is not responsible if the French players were not able to adjust one correct pass in any of their 3 games. But (few lines of patience, you’ll see where I’m getting): our government develops great migration policies (adult migrants can get expelled while their kids, born in France, go to French schools- In France, whoever is born on French soil is automatically a French citizen.). Our president walks around the ‘hood’ in Paris and screams “we’ll clean up this mess under high pressure water” (meaning “we’ll make this neighborhood whiter?”). Our Secretary of State calls for a national debate on “what is French nationality?” in the middle of the greatest economic crisis the contemporary global world has ever been through (see “You want to learn how to point fingers at some ethnic groups”, Chapter 1, lesson 1, first edition). And now our secretaries, representatives, and other senators, and even some philosophers -right wing so-called- also hit on the French Team with the harshest words. But not only on the team, but worse, on players, on individuals… whom 85% have migrant origins and/or are from the ‘hood.
What comes first: the egg, or the chicken? Leaders who do not promote social cohesion and do not respect cultural diversity could not have been better represented. They did have a whole team of spokesmen!
I am also puzzled why the French media participate so actively in this disgusting witch hunt (pointing fingers again), to such a social and public trial of 22 men– when they should criticize and offer their analysis and focus on the origin of the problem, the disintegration of the whole French social cohesion.
France's 98’ World Cup victory cemented French society. French cohesion, at that time not perfect but without a shadow of a doubt better than today, participated in the victory. It was the success of social diversity in backgrounds. The Team “Black, Blanc, Beurre ” [Slang to name French ethnic groups of Arabic origin, for a while pejorative, but became neutral or positive after France’s 98’ victory.
Today’s French solidarity is slowly but surely being destroyed by the actual political reforms that are being passed at this exact moment during the World Cup Or maybe this so-called French social solidarity has never been anything else but a dream: today, my country and the French media are outraged by losing a soccer game, they get emotional and irrational like never before. Meanwhile, they are apathetic while France is really losing a social system based on solidarity. Care about the consequences, and not about the cause. It’s just incredible.
But soccer is only soccer, and the reasons for a fiasco cannot be found in governmental politics. Responsible but not guilty.
One should look a bit more into the French Soccer Federation (F.F.F.), probably (obviously?), where the big bosses seem to care more about their leather armchairs and positions than about soccer (it’s a bit of a caricature, I agree, but to make a long story short…). There, the respect for the players seems very low. First, how can you let them go to the greatest soccer competition without a real leader (meaning coach). As early as 2002 already – the date of another soccer disaster for us–and should I mention 2008?–some players of the “98’ generation” tried to suggest other ways to manage the French soccer world in the country. The ability of the Federation to resist was impressive. They seemed completely disconnected and deaf to the reality of the emergency to change the ways they were leading things. We can witness the results of this.
Then, maybe if the corporate team of the F.F.F. was a bit more “Black, Blanc, Beurre”, we could assist in a more collective, collaborative and efficient way of managing Les Bleus? Outside and on the field…
The only one positive thing I see about this story: no more impunity for the players, they will never ever be allowed to behave like divas anymore. Because, yes, they did. And we’ve been letting them do this since we were world champions. Since then, it’s been a precipitous descent. It had to stop. It’s done now. Good.
Who knows why the best or the worst comes from people who love soccer (players, spectators, etc.). I’ve read somewhere that Marguerite Duras once asked Michel Platini about “the secret of the game”, in order to know if it was “evil or divine” (in respect to its social impact, I guess). The idol of so many would have answered, “people love soccer only because it does not carry any truth.” (This could also be translated by “genuineness,” “veracity,”or “reality.” You choose!)
[Graphic from Google image search for '2010 World Cup French Squad.']
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