“Wild” matches: when football plays with health rules

"See you Thursday, 6 pm, on the ground next to the station." This is how a football match is organized. Messages sent by SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram or Snapchat. In a few hours, they spread and go beyond the borders of the districts or cities of Ile-de-France. The teams are formed and the meeting can take place, with more or less spectators. "There is nothing simpler," smiles Steeve, a regular amateur player in Sarcelles (Val-d'Oise).

Problem: France has been living for more than two months with the Covid-19 pandemic, which killed nearly 29,000 people. Between March 17 and May 11, the country was put under bell before a first relaxation. But football remains banned, like all other collective sports in order to limit new contamination. The round ball continues to break the nets, when they exist. Almost everywhere in the Paris region, from Argenteuil (Val-d'Oise) to Fontenay-sous-Bois (Val-de-Marne) via the 15th arrondissement of Paris or Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis).

"The instruction is not to intervene"

A reality that surfaces via social networks with images of gatherings, as in Grigny (Essonne) this Tuesday during a meeting facing a district of Corbeil-Essonnes. "It is true that there is Covid-19 and that it is prohibited, admits one of the" promoters "of this match. But it is the first time that the two largest districts of Essonne can be placed on the same site without any problem. This is unheard of. We talk a lot about these two cities, so we wanted to organize a match to bring these two districts together ”.

A positive vision of the facts, which is opposed to that of the prosecutor's office or the mayor (PCF) of Grigny, Philippe Rio. The latter filed a complaint for endangering the life of others and two judicial investigations were opened. "The order is not to intervene if there are no clashes," said a police source. The "fear of the gendarme" does not have enough weight to slow down the urge to play in these districts "where confinement was more difficult to live than in the beautiful districts of Paris or in the countryside", believes Steeve.

"Their only means of expression is football"

"It is difficult for these young people who, for some, live in 7 or 8 in 25 square meters, recalls Morade, educator in a Parisian club. Football is their first passion and they have no way of satisfying it because the clubs are closed. It is their only way of expressing themselves, their release, their social bond ”. As for Argenteuil (Val-d'Oise), the third most populous city in the region after Paris and Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine), football continued to play its role as an outlet.

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“We play a lot. Once a day or every two days but especially since the end of confinement. We organized a match, a second and then there is revenge, "says Atif, 19. Amateur player all year round, he claims to have "thought" about the risks: "We avoided greeting each other before the games, just a fist check and there weren't many spectators, around twenty. But it was football above all! " As for access to the stadiums, which has been closed since mid-March, climbing is essential and "the locks open easily", summarizes Abdel, an educator in the northern suburbs of Paris.

A virtual console tournament

According to him, "general unconsciousness" is real among most of the participants. “They have no barrier gestures, they hug each other. But this unconsciousness is not to be put only on young people. Tuesday, I saw an educator of a famous club make a session with 20 young people of less than 13 years accompanied by the parents… ", tells Abdel, while finding" easy to type on footeux ". "I prefer to see these young people having fun and rediscovering a smile than doing nonsense elsewhere," concludes his counterpart, Morade.

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Other, “safer” initiatives were launched during this period. In Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), city of the French international Moussa Sissoko, "football is life", claims Jeff. To remedy the lack and encourage everyone to stay at home, he organized with two friends a virtual console tournament. "The atmosphere was there and the chambering took place on social networks," he said. Still, the “real” matches will continue: many tournaments are already scheduled, including a 100% female tournament in the north of Île-de-France.