D-DAY FOOTBALL Around thirty Corsican supporters will attend the Coupe de France match which will take place on Saturday 19 November at the Charles-Jacquin stadium. Enthusiasts, mainly from Ile-de-France and Grand Est, are happy to attend the meeting.
After the Prix-les-Mézières (Ardennes), direction Saint-Dizier for the eighth round of the Coupe de France. The supporters of the Bastia club have planned the trip to the Charles-Jacquin stadium, for the match this Saturday, November 19, which opposes them Sporting Marnaval Club (SMC). They will be about fifteen from Ile-de-France, from the Turchini 75 supporters association. And probably just as many from the Grand Est region.
Contacts have already been made, says Arnaud Gérard, representative of Turchini 75, “the oldest association of Sporting Club Bastia and the largest on the continent with 200 supporters”. “We regularly travel to matches. On Saturday, we contact each other on social networks, on supporters’ pages,” explains the football fan. This is how he knows that there will be about fifteen more people. “They come from everywhere, from Lille, Charleroi, Reims, but there are also some from Saint-Dizier. They gather before they join us,” he says. A way to bring kindness and reduce costs, including travel.
The first to arrive is responsible for finding a coffee. The ideal place to start discussing the match, place bets and change teams. “Then we’ll all go to the stadium together.” As for accessories, banners, outfits… everyone is free to take whatever they want. “People are autonomous”, explains Arnaud Gérard, who has planned to bring his banner: “that of the supporters of the Bastia club, which was used for the Guingamp-Bastia match” (at the end of October in the League championship 2, editorial note ).
The same pleasure, regardless of level
The supporter does not sulk about the pleasure of watching the match, as the Corsican club in Ligue 2 plays against a club in Region 1. “It is a professional club, but four years ago we were in National 3. The club has come back a little after a while,” he says with clarity and humility. “We would have fallen against Lille or Marseille, so yes, there would be 300 supporters, but there are always supporters for Bastia”, regardless of the level opposite, he adds.
This enthusiasm to enjoy and share his passion for football will not be satisfied 100% in Saint-Dizier. “We will have a separate bar and sanitary facilities. It’s a shame, it works well when we mix. At Guingamp we ate sausage meatballs with the Bretons,” says Arnaud Gérard.
An excursion to the restaurant should take place after the meeting. Alas, there are no specialties to taste in the department. “If we can’t find it, it will be a sausage sizzle,” confides Francilien. It takes a lot more to turn a fan off.
Marie-Helene Degaugue
mh.degaugue@jhm.fr
No predictions
Arnaud Gérard did not dare to publish a score. “The last game, at a level just above Marnaval (National 3), we qualified on penalties, so I won’t say anything. We have a big problem with efficiency at the forward level. I just ask the players to qualify, “hopes the representative of Turchini 75.
