Supporters of the Ariège club of Luzenac in front of the Toulouse administrative court, April 25, 2017. -

N. Stival / 20 Minutes

  • In Luzenac, we care little about the identity of the next president of the French Football Federation, even if the name of Frédéric Thiriez remains linked to the bad soap opera of the summer of 2014.

  • Seven years ago, the small Ariège club was denied access to Ligue 2. It is now playing in the sixth division, but has not played in the league since October.

  • The atmosphere at LAP, between anger and concern, reflects the state of mind of football from below, shaken like the rest of society by the endless health crisis linked to Covid-19.

The outgoing and favorite Noël Le Graët?

The outsider Frédéric Thiriez?

The unexpected Michel Moulin?

This Saturday, the French Football Federation (FFF) will know its boss for the next four years.

In Luzenac (about 600 inhabitants), we do not hold our breath while waiting for the identity of the chosen one.

Deprived of the rise in Ligue 2 acquired on the ground in the spring of 2014, the small Ariégois club has become - over an endless sports, legal and media soap opera - the symbol of football from below.

Today, President Christophe Rodriguez admits to being especially concerned about the future of his structure with 300 licensees, including 200 at the football school.

"There is a real lack of respect for the amateur world on the part of our authorities," he complains.

When I say that, I am targeting the FFF, not the presidents of departmental districts or regional leagues, who apply what they are told from Paris.

Now, we are waiting for the Federation to officially take the decision of a white season.

But that, we had to anticipate from July 2020. We had to expect a return of the health crisis, when we acted as if everything was going well!

"

"Thiriez destroyed the club"

If the current leaders of the "3 F" take it for their rank, Frédéric Thiriez is of course not spared.

Almost seven years later, the aborted epic of the LAP remains a chewing gum stuck to the soles of the main opponent of Le Graët.

"Thiriez presents himself as the defender of the amateur world while he destroyed the club when he was at the head of the LFP", thunder Christophe Rodriguez, whose first team saw its season in Regional 1 (sixth division) stop at the end of October, after barely five meetings.

Part of the workforce in Toulouse, the other in Ariège

Since then, it tinkers, as in all amateur sports clubs in France.

The 6 p.m. curfew prevents the two or weekly evening sessions.

“We meet once a week, on Saturdays from 10:30 am to noon,” explains co-trainer Frédéric Ouvret.

It is above all a way of keeping a certain cohesion, with fun sessions.

We invite players to come and get some fresh air after their work week.

"

Everything takes place in Castelmaurou, in the suburbs of Toulouse, where a good part of the LAP workforce resides, a club with a unique functioning.

Ouvret takes care of the pick-up in the city at the wheel of a minibus provided by the club, while another vehicle, with his partner David Gomes and half a dozen players on board, goes down the N20 then the A66 for 130 km to reach the junction.

The Ariégeois were treated to a brief adrenaline rush at the end of January, during an almost incongruous sixth round of the Coupe de France.

Conclusion: a logical defeat after only three collective training sessions against Colomiers, posted two divisions above and much sharper (0-4).

"The heads are starting to let go"

Today, like all amateurs, they juggle with sanitary standards and prescriptions that are not easy to follow.

“What does contactless football mean?

asks the coach-driver.

Football is ball, and playing ball is making oppositions.

We try to hold on to the guys, but the heads are starting to give way.

We lack visibility.

"

A sporting observation, but also an economic one, as President Rodriguez indicates.

“We are at -60% sponsorship compared to previous years.

How do you ask partners to pay money when they are saving money to try to save their businesses?

In the coming months, the LAP expects to lose licensees and volunteers.

After a 2019-2020 season already truncated in the spring, the 2020-21 fiscal year only lasted two months.

There is better way to retain players.

“The FFF takes the full amount of the licenses.

But next season, I'll only charge families 50% of the price, if I'm still president.

Because in the face of uncertain tomorrow, the flame flickers even among the most devoted.

"I can no longer find any pleasure, I wonder if it's worth it to continue, confesses the boss of the club, former sports director during the epic which led the village of talc to the gates of professionalism.

I have the impression that we are taken for fools.

And there are clubs with even greater difficulty than ours!

"

The coach's questions

On the Toulouse side, Frédéric Ouvret waits and wonders.

“When we were forced to play the Coupe de France tour, we underwent Covid screening tests, we respected the protocol and everything went well.

Why in N2, but even in N3 or R1, we wouldn't be able to reproduce that to play in the league?

"

Whatever the verdict of the ballot box, the next president of the FFF will inherit a base in full doubt.

By the way: if it is Frédéric Thiriez and he decides to start a victorious tour, he can already forget a possible stopover in Luzenac.

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  • Coronavirus

  • Toulouse

  • Covid 19

  • Video

  • Noël le Graët

  • Frédéric thiriez

  • Luzenac

  • FFF

  • Soccer

  • Sport