“Marseille under high tension”.
This paraphrase of a famous rap group from Marseille (the Fonky Family) could, in itself, sum up the current climate that reigns around the Olympique de Marseille, the scene for several weeks of an open conflict between its supporters and its direction.
A climax was reached on January 30 with clashes at the Commanderie training center.
Since then, the tension has not subsided.
OM supporters demand the departure of Jacques-Henri Eyraud, and at the same time the Olympian president is making more and more dissatisfied statements.
“There are two opposing visions of OM”, he declared just after the incidents at the Commanderie.
On February 14 and 15, the club announces an upcoming “initiative of consultation with the supporters”, Agora OM, and gives notice to certain groups of the Vélodrome bends, threatening to break their agreement on subscriptions.
“The rupture is over”, respond to groups of OM supporters, who also tell their management that “it is now useless to pretend in the media a desire for dialogue”.
The mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, supports them as well as several personalities: artists, intellectuals, political activists, associations or sportsmen.
“OM does not fit in a football club”, they claim in a column published on Friday 19 February by La Provence.
“Most people who are attached to a certain Marseille culture, the city and its club, wanted to point out the obvious: a football club is part of the land, it is much more than a financial company”, explains François Thomazeau, journalist and writer signing the platform, contacted by France 24. “Saint-Étienne, Lens or Marseille are French clubs which are anchored in the reality of their city and they are seen by their inhabitants, by their elected officials. like much more than football teams.
And they're not just a business that has to make or lose money. ”
“The feeling of entering a family”
The famous Marseille rap group IAM, another signatory of the platform, also posted a personal message on Twitter, saying “in solidarity with groups of supporters” of OM.
“This club is a city, it's an identity, a mentality, it's part of our lives, it's in (our) DNA”, recalled rapper Akhenaton.
“People who take over that club, at any time, have to realize that by marrying the club they're also marrying a city, a mentality, a state of mind.
That's what being Marseille is like. "
Solidarity OM supporters pic.twitter.com/OlEyWn3dE8
- IAM (@IAM) February 19, 2021
The Olympique de Marseille is not just a simple football club but also a showcase of the Marseille city, according to its many supporters.
“The only OM agora is our streets, our bars, our lounges in front of the TV, our bodies massed in front of the pizza truck and our bends,” indicate the signatories of the forum published in La Provence.
The Marseille football club, like other popular Ligue 1 clubs, is also part of the lives of the people who support it.
According to François Thomazeau, “OM punctuated the adolescence of its supporters.
The club belongs to us, and it doesn't get too dirty ”.
And the writer remembers: “I arrived in Marseille at the age of 4, my father is from Nantes and my mother from Bordeaux, and it is by going to the stadium and with the attachment that I was able to bring at OM that I made, to a certain extent, my entry into 'Marseille'.
I had the impression of joining a family, and this transmission of the passion for football was made with my teacher who took us to see our first match, in 1971 ”.
The “cultural divorce” between supporters and leaders
The current conflict at OM seems to be due to the fact that the leaders may not have realized the individual and collective dimension that the club can represent for the Marseille city.
“The cultural, heritage and passionate dimension of the club is taken to a very high point in Marseille, and everything related to the club resonates in the city”, explains Jérôme Latta, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Cahiers du football, contacted by France 24. There is a very great sensitivity not only of the supporters but also of the entire Marseille population ”.
And if this passionate dimension is called into question, it can lead to a standoff with the supporters, as is currently the case.
But the situation should also be put into perspective with that of other supporters of Ligue 1 clubs, also in conflict with their management for months, such as FC Nantes or Girondins de Bordeaux.
“There is a cultural divorce which is expressed in the fact that supporters and leaders no longer share the same objectives at all,” explains Jérôme Latta.
“The leaders are in a very competitive economic environment with in particular many requirements of profitability (...).
The supporters want to live their passion.
And as leaders have dispassionate speeches, often with very disappointing sporting results, we reach breaking points because the supporters no longer identify with their club. ”
What salvation can OM hope for in this context?
Marseille supporters still want Jacques-Henri Eyraud to leave, they confirmed it again at a press conference on Friday afternoon.
In the event of a status quo, and therefore of non-departure of the Olympian president, they could “call on the Marseillais to demonstrate”.
And to warn: "We want a president who knows about football and who has respect for the supporters and the Marseillais."
The summary of the week
France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR