Knysna: report on the Blues' strike has been lost

10 years later, we are not done with the biggest shame of French football. The Blues' strike in Knysna, South Africa. There was an investigation, and an investigation report. But now the federation has lost this report. For Virginie Phulpin, it is above all that no one wants to dig up old files.

Ah, the old files ... Those that inevitably stand out at dessert during family meals. "Yet we promised we would never talk about it again!". Obviously we are more strict on promises to the French football federation. Finally there are two possibilities. Either we play Nickel-plated Feet, we really lost this file and there we frankly hope that we better organize our world cups, or we have kindly put it under the carpet to avoid annoying revelations. The members of the fact-finding mission responsible for investigating in 2010 tend to prefer the second solution, and Virginie Phulpin is tempted to believe them. We can not lose a 15-page file on the greatest shame of French football between the photocopier and the cupboard in the dungeons at the headquarters of the federation. It seems a little big anyway. But then what does the FFF want to hide? One of the authors of this lost report remembers that in his conclusions, he denounced the wait-and-see attitude of the federation, and his total inability to ease the tensions between Raymond Domenech and his players during this world cup. Honestly, we do not fall from our chair either, we were a little aware. 

But then what is so embarrassing about this report? 

We don't know, he's lost. What is embarrassing is all that has happened and which has given a calamitous image of French football around the world. Insults or not from Nicolas Anelka towards Raymond Domenech, the striker excluded from the France team, and then the other players who, in solidarity, go on strike, do not get off their bus to train and ask the coach to read a lunar press release in front of the press. We know the fabric. We even know it too well… But in this report, there was a transcript of the auditions of 18 players on the team, since there are five of them who did not want to answer. Among them, Nicolas Anelka. He promised revelations in a documentary that Netflix will be released on him this month. We will see, because revelations, it has been 10 years that we have been promised, and it is pschitt every time. There it starts again. But Virginie Phulpin would have liked to discover the version of the players. And this report was their hearings, so we could have known a little more. The federation may prefer that they be held solely responsible rather than assume its wanderings. It's easier. It was fashionable at the time, this federation had already let Thierry Henry assume his hand alone against Ireland without ever giving him any support. It's not just the file that was lost in this story. There is also a little honor.