“Don't touch our land!
The message displayed in red and black on a banner stuck to the fence of the Anciennes Beaudottes stadium is clear.
Gathered in a collective of more than 280 people, residents of this Sevran district have launched a movement to “save” their equipment: a petition posted on June 2 has collected more than 15,000 signatures.
The result of a concern linked to urban renewal led by the town hall and the territorial public establishment Paris Terre d'Envol.
“We have been talking about it between us for weeks,” says Sofiane, 37, member of the collective and resident of Beaudottes.
Why are we never consulted?
With dialogue, we would not have come to this.
"
Dialogue precisely, this is what the town hall and Paris Terres d'Envol are putting forward.
Information meetings and “co-construction workshops” were held from 2018 with the inhabitants of Les Beaudottes.
Some of them would then have argued that the land in question generated noise pollution.
The town hall confirm its wish to move it a hundred meters
In a press release published on the City's website and on social networks two days after the launch of the petition, the municipal team therefore reaffirms its desire to "move this equipment from 100 to 150 meters so that a friendly place can be created. for families.
The move is scheduled for 2024 at the earliest.
The letter of the month of June 2021 from Stéphane Blanchet mayor of Sevran can be read online 👉https: //t.co/pB5uQY3q3W
"Priority to sport in the Beaudottes district, there will always be a football field for the inhabitants" pic.twitter.com/xwQr9Iswcj
- City of Sevran (@Sevranville) June 14, 2021
In town hall, we regret a lack of understanding and a pointless controversy.
Especially since a second field, provisional and also in free access, must open its cages in the less that come.
"Throughout the project, you will always have an accessible football field and, as of this summer, you will even have two fields instead of one, for several years", reassures the mayor Stéphane Blanchet (DVG) in a letter addressed to the inhabitants.
The group at the initiative of the petition, which swears that it has no political will behind this protest movement launched one week before the departmental elections, wishes to recall the importance of this stage in neighborhood life.
“This field has a soul,” insists Théo, 43, football coach and founder of a sports association.
Since its construction less than ten years ago, this synthetic free-access stadium, surrounded by imposing buildings, has allowed residents to play football by competing in teams of six across the width of the pitch.
"He united the city"
"Even when it snows, we play," laugh Theo, Sofiane and their five other friends gathered that afternoon under the dodger.
More than football, these Sevranais insist on the “social” aspect of their field.
The “city stadium”, as they call it, “united the city”.
“We organized inter-neighborhood tournaments, adds Sofiane.
We invited players from other cities with which there were tensions, such as Aulnay or Saint-Brice (Val-d'Oise).
"
Mixed matches, barbecues, film screenings… There is no shortage of summer activities around the stadium.
The members of the collective, organized on a WhatsApp group, also mounted an African Cup of Nations in the neighborhoods in 2019. "After a month of organization, when we made the Algeria-Mali final, my tears came out", remembers Theo.
The sports venue also had its heyday last summer.
Originally from Beaudottes, rapper Maes, one of the biggest record sellers in 2020, put down his microphone and put on his crampons to participate in a match under the watchful eye of the cameras of a specialized media.
"It is sure that there will be reconstruction before demolition", also reassures the president of the tenants' association, on the front line when the negotiations for the urban renewal project are being negotiated. The future equipment will include changing rooms, showers and an athletics track. Enough to make the nostalgia for the “city stadium” disappear?
