INTERVIEW
For the second weekend in a row, football enthusiasts had to work their brakes, deprived of their passion. Since Friday, March 13, the Professional Football League (LFP) has decreed the suspension "until further notice" of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 games in an attempt on its own scale to slow down the epidemic of coronavirus. The captain of the Nîmes Olympique, Anthony Briançon, was on Europe 1 Sunday to tell the story of how he saw this very special period.
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Footballers, like other French employees, are faced with an unprecedented situation. "I am still an employee of Nîmes Olympique but I only receive 84% of my net salary", specifies Anthony Briançon about his partial unemployment. "The club has tried to find the best solution so as not to jeopardize itself," said the captain. And for good reason, the Nîmes Olympique, currently 18th in the championship, has the smallest crowd of the elite. Anthony Briançon recognizes that "the situation is complicated but it is for all companies".
WhatsApp group and physical program
On the sporting side, the captain of the Crocos, like his partners, follows a physical program. Thanks to a WhatsApp group, he exchanges daily with other players and staff. "The club gives us a program to respect," he explains, "with physical maintenance, running if possible and there is also monitoring in terms of weight and mass gain".
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Because if the vagueness around the date of resumption of the championship remains, the players must be ready at any time. "If we do nothing, we will come back to pick it up!", Predicts Anthony Briançon. "You have to keep a certain rhythm and talk. With two weeks of confinement, which will perhaps last longer, if we cannot manage to impose a personal and physical interview, we are cooked!"
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Pending the return to the lawns of Ligue 1, Anthony Briançon is patient, at home, with his family and his best friend accompanied by a wife and children. "It goes a little faster with them and then I have a small garden with a pétanque field so we can do activities", he rejoices, without ever forgetting the essentials, "activities and also a little muscle building ".