"Mission Espectad'or".
This is the name of the operation launched on Monday by the USAP.
Fill the stands of the Aimé-Giral stadium (13,000 seats) with cardboard figures bearing the likeness of the spectators.
"If several thousand play the game, the illusion would be total", hopes the president of the Catalan club.
A way of furnishing a closed-door which never ceases to go on.
“Seeing the Aimé-Giral stadium empty in each match is heartbreaking,” François Rivière explained during the press conference announcing this initiative.
If in the NBA, in Asia or in the Bundesliga and in Serie A, this palliative is now frequent, in France, and in world rugby, it is a first.
Free for subscribers who have waived reimbursement
The principle is simple.
To return to the stadium via its life-size silhouette, Perpignan supporters must go to the club's website (or to the terminals in the two USAP shops in Perpignan) to register their photo.
The club will then create the cardboard effigy (SELFANS® in honeycomb polypropylene, resistant to the sun and flexible against the wind) to then install it in the stands.
Perpignan: "Mission Espectad'or" or how the USAP brings back its supporters to the Aimé-Giral stadium https://t.co/yB1Kf3ig3N#usap#rugby
- Semper endavant (@Usap) February 1, 2021
Free for subscribers who have not requested reimbursement of their subscription despite the loss of unseen matches - “we decided to offer them, announces François Rivière.
Almost all wished to leave the agent at the club.
It's our way of saying thank you… ”- it will cost the others 20 €.
First effigies in place from February 12
The first cardboard effigies will begin to occupy the seats from the next home game, on February 12: the derby against Carcassonne.
"It is a way for the USAP to recreate an original link with its supporters after months of absence and distancing", underlines the Catalan president.
The players of the current leader of Pro D2 will indeed perhaps feel a little less alone.
When a restricted gauge is again established, some of these effigies will be used to mark social distancing.
The supporters will recover their silhouettes when they can physically return to the stadium.
With an additional gift: they will be signed by the players.
A memory of that bad time.
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