“Footers at any age” in Pont-Aven: Edith de Sterk, Marie-France Gosselet, Pierrette Tanneau, Sylvie Meunier and Olga Lefort.
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Footballers at any age
The "Footers at any age", which brings together women aged 53 to 78, will participate in a tournament on Saturday in Biars-sur-Cère, in the Lot.
This will be the first sporting gathering for the association born in September 2019, slowed down in its development by the Covid-19.
Most of the players have recently discovered soccer.
And some do not hesitate to cross France to live their passion.
In a virus-free world, the sixth edition of the FC Biars-Brétenoux (FCBB) women's national tournament would have taken place from June 12 to 14.
Forty teams and more than 500 players have come from all over France.
But the Covid-19 has shifted and melted this major event for the small club of Lot.
Ten formations are expected on the only day of Saturday, including a very young, born barely a year ago: that of "Footers at any age" composed of twenty members from 53 to 78 years old scattered across the country.
His youngest is also the regional of the stage: Sylvie Escure represents the association in the Lot and heads the women's section of the FCBB (360 licensees including about sixty girls).
"I saw a report on" Grannies Foot "on TV and I immediately joined," explains the 50-year-old.
This French team had been "selected" in residences for seniors and had given the answer to the South African "soccer Grannies" on June 19, 2019 in Saint-Etienne, during the Women's World Cup in France.
VIDEO.
Saint-Etienne: When the “Grannies football” put on their crampons to light up the World Cup https://t.co/TNWMuD28aM via @ 20minutesLyon pic.twitter.com/PtLJEZMPQr
- 20 Minutes Lyon (@ 20minuteslyon) June 20, 2019
The following September, some of her “Grannies Foot”, who had often never kicked a ball before (unlike the South Africans, victorious 10-0), decided to continue the adventure.
“We didn't want to walk, we wanted to run!
"
The "Footeuses à tous ages" were born, co-founded by the Bretons Marie-France Gosselet and Edith de Sterk, as well as by the Toulousaine Olga Lefort.
"I asked the district of Finistère for us to be affiliated with the FFF and we were offered to get closer to" walking football ", smiles President Marie-France Gosselet (57), resident of Pont-Aven.
I replied that we did not want to walk, but to run!
"
⚽ No running!
Football while walking, or "walking football", has landed in France in the suitcases of British expatriates, who wish to develop this sport, mainly intended for over 50s #AFP pic.twitter.com/BJjCi4eceV
- Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) December 26, 2017
Not discouraged, the association then placed itself under the aegis of the Sports and Cultural Federation of France (FSCF).
It should have taken off in the spring, with a competition in Italy, an invitation to the Rennes fair and the Biars-Brétenoux tournament.
And then the coronavirus ... And then the confinement ... The meeting on Saturday will therefore be the first event in which neophytes will participate.
But it came close to it ...
“Frankly, in view of the context, I was on the verge of canceling what is nevertheless our livelihood, admits Joël Gary, president of the FCBB, which brings together the villages of Biars-sur-Cère and Brétenoux, ie approximately 3,500 inhabitants.
But you have to live with the virus.
We will take all possible precautions, including wearing a mandatory mask, except for eating, drinking and playing.
"
Packages for fortnight
"We maintained our visit because this is our first meeting," asserts Marie-France Gosselet, who trains with the men's under-11 team from Pleuven, while waiting to join the women from Quimper.
You have to get to see each other.
For the Breton leader, it will be postponed.
Like one of her teammates from Pont-Aven, she forfeited.
Not for a history of cruciate ligaments or muscle tears.
But, a sign of the times, due to a fortnight fixed until September 11, after having attended a person positive for Covid-19.
Same “sanction” for a Girondin player ...
"There will only be six players, but we will be helped by other teams," said the president, before this tournament which will be played in teams of eight on half a court, with games of ten minutes.
“Footers at any age” can count on Sylvie Escure, the youngest but yet the most experienced of the lot.
"I played in the Honorary Division at Ussel then at Varetz in Corrèze and I would have continued without my loose back…"
"When we play, we forget the pain, the rheumatism"
Olga Lefort, like many, only started her sport with the epic of “Grannies Foot”.
The Toulouse “59 and a half” - it is she who specifies - must play goalkeeper Saturday.
Even if the positions are not yet well defined within a team that has never evolved together.
“The little that we had learned, we have lost in recent months, regrets the member of Castanet-Tolosan, where she trains with kids from eight to 11 years old.
I just played ball a little with my three-year-old grandson… We're going into the unknown.
But it does not matter.
What we want is to get out of the monotony, to stay young in our heads.
When we play, we forget the pains, the rheumatism.
"
Olga Lefort will come as a neighbor, but not alone: she will carry teammates from Marseille, Castelnaudary and Argelès, collected beforehand in Toulouse.
In Biars-sur-Céré, she will find two other "footballers" fans of carpooling, since a licensee from Saint-Brieuc must join another in Saint-Denis-de-Jouhet, in the Indre, before finishing the road together.
At the end of the long journey, the Grail: "The team is expected Friday at the refreshment bar", announces the Haut-Garonnaise.
“We are delighted to welcome them,” says Joël Gary.
They make us a bit of a buzz, but beyond that, it's very good for the development of women's football.
"
As for the expansion of "Foot girls at any age", if it has been slowed down by the Covid-19, it has not been blocked.
“Ten grandmas gathered in Guyana,” explains President Marie-France Gosselet.
They joined the association as a partner club.
A nice trip to Spain, near Cadiz, is planned for next June.
For this, the association is looking for funding.
Because if passion remains the engine of this senior team, it needs fuel.
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