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AS Saint -Etienne – Bayern of Munich in the final of the European Champion Clubs Cup in 1976. The 1993 Champions League won by OM against AC Milan. France – Brazil at the 1998 World Cup where the Blues won their first star. The Barcelona raising in front of Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16 of the 2017 Champions League… The most significant pages in the history of French football are all (or almost, the epic of the World 1958 does not appear) in) in I was therethe book that Jean-Karl Lucas publishes this Friday by editions En Exergue. The artist, who forms with his wife Emilie Satt the duo Madame Monsieur, is a big round ball fan. “I have always loved football and, more generally, the history of football, the stories linked to football, in particular life stories,” he said 20 Minutes.
As the title of his work makes it understand, he collected the testimonies of men and women who lived these matches within the stadiums. “It all started with a personal desire to share memories of mythical encounters, before which I vibrated, or of which we, my father in particular, told me a lot when I was a kid. In a way, I wanted to relive these matches by proxy, “explains Jean-Karl Lucas for whom” a great football match is a moment of history “.
For the 1998 World – Brazil – Brazil match, you haven't crubbed out under the testimonies?
No, it was not so easy to find, in fact. The testimony that I have collected, that of Frédéric, is one of those who touched me the most, because it is a question of parentage and transmission. He says that beyond seeing the French team win the World Cup, he shared, thanks to this match, an exceptional moment with his father-who unfortunately left a few years later. He had promised to take him to the stadium if one day France played a final of the World Cup. He held his promise, he managed to have places. He really fought. Frédéric told me that it marked him for life, and that, today, who has become a father, he never ceases to try to surprise his children, to make them happy.
A chapter is devoted to the “Night of Seville” and to this France – RFA Cauchemardesque in the World Cup semi -finals in 1982. This match was often reported from its violent angle or the cruel disillusionment for the Blues. However, in the book, the witness talks about West German supporters who have made a hedge of honor to French supporters …
Exactly. And that is the typical example of a match experience that you can only have in a stadium. I spoke with this witness, Dominique, for an hour on the phone and he cried, telling me that, because it moved him enormously. What he found the most beautiful in there is this gesture of West German supporters who made this hedge of honor and passed their scarves around the neck of French supporters. Everyone was aware of having experienced something incredible and that the French would also have deserved to win.
Another striking testimony is that of Sufyana which evokes how he lived the match – arrested – opposing France to Algeria in 2001. This meeting exceeded the sports framework from the hymns …
Exactly. There was a huge symbolism. The story that Sufyane is the little story in the big one. He is 11 years old. This is the first time he has entered the Stade de France. He was born in France to Algerian parents. Like many kids such as him, he wonders who he is. French ? Algerian? He, at that time, he wants to put himself in opposition to France by being fully for Algeria. He told me that he was one of those who whistled La Marseillaise And explained to me that, at the moment, he thought it was the right thing to do. Finally, this match helped him understand that he had whistled himself. He helped him realize who he was. Today, he is an incredible stadium enthusiast. He travels all year round and he is one of the pillars of supporters of the French team. Wherever he goes, he has the French flag on one shoulder and the Algerian flag on the other. He is completely peaceful with that. He has a vision of very open supporterism on the other, on the meeting.
The dark side of supporterism, hooliganism, is mentioned through, the drama of Heysel, in Brussels. But rather than talking about this final between Juventus from Turin to Liverpool, you talk about the semi-final return match between Bordeaux and Juve…
I wanted to stay on French football. I thought it was an elegant way of approaching Heysel, without going completely inside, in quotes. With this match, in Bordeaux, we have a taste of what was going to happen in Heysel (a general fight and a crowd movement that led to the death of 39 people and 465 injured, edited), that is to say the reception conditions, the fact that more tickets were sold, that the stadium could accommodate spectators, etc. There was a kind of amateurism, with very little security. This chapter is also a family story. The witness says that, after the fact, he was happy with the non-qualification of Bordeaux if not his brother and his father would certainly have gone to Heysel.
The Bastia – OM of May 5, 1992 at the Furiani stadium, where 18 people died and thousands of others were injured after a column collapsed, is the only match in the book whose kick -off has never been given …
I absolutely wanted to talk about it because, already, it marked me when I was a kid. I remember where I was and what I felt when it happened. And then it is a major event of stadiums in France. I was happy and very moved to spend a moment with the two witnesses, the commentator Radio Didier Grassi who had settled in the rostrum which fell, and Antoine Di Fraya, the captain of SC Bastia at the time, who was on the ground. It's absolutely poignant what they say. In the book, I wanted to talk about the great moments of joy or sporting sadness, but also to evoke events where the sporting result no longer counts.
Like France – Germany at the Stade de France, November 13, 2015. During the first half, a terrorist attack took place near the enclosure …
The testimony of Emilie and Noémie is staggering. They explain that they made the decision to leave the stadium before the end of the match because they felt in danger. However, the stadium of France was that evening the safest place in Paris and its surroundings. They tell the armed CRS who escorted them while howls of happiness resounded in the stands because France had just scored a goal. It is an incredible contrast.
Among the female testimonies, there is that of violinist Marina Chiche who played “We Are the Champions” at the opening of Marseille – Lorient, in homage to Bernard Tapie, October 17, 2021. You wanted to wink at the musical world?
Yes, I wanted artists to testify in the book because I find that there are always a lot of similarities between sport and music. The approach of a match resembles the approach of a concert: the locker room and the lodge, the path that brings us to the scene and the corridor that leads to the field. And then, all of a sudden, everything becomes hyperfurious when you enter the field or on stage. There is the relation to the public, the relation to oneself too, the desire to give the best of oneself. Marina is an extraordinary artist who occurred all over the world. She tells me that she has already worn football jerseys during concerts or that she grabbed a hyperdifficile technical gesture while watching Thierry Henry Play, on TV.
She shows another face of supporters …
Through this book, I wanted to show that there are all the profiles among football supporters. It was important to me to emphasize that supporters have a life, other interests, but also that football infused throughout society.
Among the witnesses, there are also journalists, including Michel Drucker…
I was very happy and proud to make him talk about this subject. Sports commentator was his first job. I was interested in his gaze on the evolution of television retransmissions. At the time, in the press stands, he had no return. So he had bought binoculars to be able to see the land. He was alone, there was no consultant. He also says that he had not dared to take over the microphone for the 1998 World Cup and that he regretted it. Brazil – Italy, this 1970 World Cup final, of which Michel Drucker speaks, is the only sprain I made to my editorial line centered on French football. This final remains the most mythical in the history of football. It was the first broadcast in color, in Mondiovision, with Pelé, the big team in Brazil…
You were talking about the similarities between music and football. Eurovision, in which you participated in 2018, did you experience it as the final of a euro?
It's more difficult, when you are an actor of the thing, to really access emotion. There is so much pressure and challenges. It is complicated to be in the pleasure of the moment. But yes, it's a bit of the song of the song, even if the competition side, in music, is weird. It is also true that I could see the Eurovision of fervor scenes as we can see in a football stadium. There is an atmosphere. There is almost supporterism in the Eurovision audience. It's pretty surprising.
By collecting all these testimonies, is there a match you have dreamed of attending?
I have no regrets not having seen these matches in the stadiums. Football matches are shared moments. I prefer to have seen France – Italy of Euro 2000 and the golden goal of the Blues in front of the TV with my father – we got into our arms – that at the stadium in Rotterdam, all alone.
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However, it tickles me to attend, once in my life, to a grand finale. If PSG is going to the Champions League final this year, I would be fine. We only saw that once in his life.
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