This Thursday, French sport will commemorate its worst disaster.

Thirty years after the collapse of a stand at the Furiani stadium near Bastia, which left 19 dead and 2,357 injured, appeasement peaks with the freezing of matches on May 5 in French competitions.

Paradox: this year, for the entry into force of the law, a match will however be organized this Thursday, between Olympique de Marseille and Feyenoord Rotterdam.

But it will be in the context of a European event, in the semi-final return of the Europa League Conference, and the collective of victims believes that it has achieved its “main objective” by sanctifying this day in the future.

A great crash then a deafening silence

“Here the sun is setting and the atmosphere is rising”… After these few words from Michel Vivarelli, journalist at

Radio France Corse

, a great crash and a deafening silence occupied the antenna for several minutes.

The north stand of the Armand-Cesari stadium had just collapsed on May 5, 1992.

Perched at the top of this temporary stand nearly 20 meters high, the reporter was preparing to comment on the Coupe de France semi-final between Bastia and OM.

Around him, 8,000 people were seated.

A few minutes before kick-off, Marseille stars Jean-Pierre Papin, Basile Boli, Abedi Pelé and Chris Waddle were still in the locker room.

The words of Michel Vivarelli, his last, now adorn the path that leads to the memorial of the victims.

"This year, these are quite symbolic and special commemorations", according to Josepha Guidicelli, the president of the collective of victims.

That day she lost her father, Jean-Pierre Guidicelli, also a journalist.

"Symbolic", because "these are the 30th anniversary of the tragedy", and "particular (....) because on October 14 there was this law which came to freeze the matches when it falls on May 5".

Commemorations "much more peaceful, much more serene"

This request that no first, second division, Coupe de France and Trophée des Champions football matches be played on May 5, definitively adopted by the French Parliament, "was very important for us", recalls the one who had 4 years on the day of the tragedy: "This fight which took ten years to succeed" was the main demand of the collective.

As a result, these will be “much more peaceful commemorations, much more serene”.

So of course, there will be this Marseille-Feyenoord.

A meeting that Renaud Muselier, president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, or Jean-Charles Orsucci, mayor of Bonifacio, had called to move to another date, "out of respect for the memory of the victims".

Without success.

"It's a shame for the symbolism", insists Josepha Guidicelli: "But it will not change our commemorations", marked as every year by a ceremony of meditation at 4 p.m. in front of the stele, where the platform collapsed.

Then it will be a mass at the cathedral of Bastia, at 6 p.m.

Sport

Furiani drama: OM will pay tribute to the victims against Feyenoord, with a minute of silence and a black armband

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Furiani drama: There will be no more professional matches on May 5 in France

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