Canet-en-Roussillon (France) (AFP)

The senyera, the red and yellow flag of Catalonia, flies in a cloudless sky above the brick church of Saint-Jacques in Canet-en-Roussillon, very close to the stadium of the executioners of OM in the Coupe de France , proud of their identity and their "grinta".

In normal times, traders in the coastal town of the Pyrénées-Orientales, near Perpignan, would undoubtedly have adorned their windows in the same colors to support their "little ones" from Nationale 2 before their round of 16 Wednesday against Boulogne-sur-Mer, club of the upper echelon.

But the doors to restaurants and ice cream parlors on the seafront are sadly closed with the pandemic and only a few municipal banners along the road between the beaches and the historic town mark the feat of local enthusiasts, who won Marseille in the previous round.

Without the camera, Canet would have had no trouble filling the Brutus stadium in Perpignan, where the Catalan Dragons rugby league team usually plays, which did not have to be asked to put its facilities to provision, with the help of the other flagship rugby club in the region, Usap.

The expression "natural", for the young manager of Canétois footballers Jordi Delclos, of a "Catalan solidarity" indifferent to the shape of the ball: "We can live together. In this ultra-complicated period, seeing our small team beat OM is a breath of fresh air for the whole department ".

- Rugby land -

On these lands of oval, the club must also face the power of attraction of FC Barcelona, ​​whose Camp Nou is only a little over two hours away.

If Canet Roussillon FC does not always share the game, local players, like Toufik Ouadoudi, say they draw in their "Catalan blood" a characteristic "grinta": "We can miss certain matches technically, but we will not never let go. "

"People here love the fight and these are values ​​that we try to transmit to the whole group", abounds Maxime Ferry, municipal police officer when he is not guarding the cages in Canétoises.

The Catalan identity of the club has somewhat diluted over the divisions climbed from the DH and outside recruits, but a handful of faithful are still the guarantors, including Pascal Vié or Jérémy Posteraro, author of a free kick splendid against OM in the round of 16.

"Ideally, in the next five years, we would like half of our workforce to be trained at home," Jordi Delclos projects from the offices, one of the walls of which is adorned with a roaring lion.

"It is important to give the club a local image. It is a strong identity, Catalonia. We are proud of it."

- Partnership with Girona -

Relying on the Catalan pool has not always been a priority in the Pyrénées-Orientales, even in the heyday of Perpignan FC, mounted in division 2 in the 1990s.

"The club grew very quickly and did not have time to lay the foundations for a real training to use the products of the country. Some young people have fallen through the cracks", regrets the former defensive midfielder Perpignan, Jean-Luc Escayol, now recruiter for Auxerre.

There is a little nostalgia for "old football" in him.

That of "slaps and pressure blows in the changing room corridor", but also "shenanigans" which precipitated the fall of Perpignan FC, placed in liquidation in 1997.

The Canet RFC is today the indirect heir, after merger and split, and years of "bell towers", sighs Escayol.

"We wasted time."

In their reconstruction, with the ambition to eventually find the professional world, in National, the leaders of Canétois look on the other side of the very close border.

They recently entered into a partnership with a resident of the Spanish second division, Girona, one of the many top-level clubs in Catalonia behind FC Barcelona (Espanyol Barcelona, ​​Sabadell, Tarragona ...).

"It will be about exchanges at the level of young people and educators. Girona has the experience of La Liga and this identity which we are trying to imbibe", details manager Jordi Delclos, a "fanatic" of Barça.

By dint of epics in the Coupe de France, his Canet also hopes to become in the local football landscape "més que un club" ("more than a club"), the motto of the neighbor from Barcelona.

© 2021 AFP