It’s a soap opera that continues to go on.
Although redone this summer, the Charléty lawn has been in a lamentable state for several weeks.
This Saturday, March 2, Paris FC decided for the first time to continue its Ligue 2 and D1 Arkema matches against Saint-Étienne.
Already deplorable for the second division match at 3 p.m. (0-0) in front of 17,358 spectators, the pitch was logically declared impassable by the referees for the women's match, which was to start at 7:30 p.m.
President Pierre Ferracci, very angry, points out the responsibilities of the Paris town hall and the stadium management.
How do you react to the cancellation of the D1 Women's match?
PIERRE FERRACCI.
We are very angry.
Unfortunately, this is the result of the negligence of Charléty's management.
We are poorly served.
Out of respect for the spectators, especially when they come as numerous as today, for the players, the staff, we have the right to ask for just normal working conditions.
The LFP gave us its 3rd negative and infamous rating (Editor's note: which should result in a fine).
But Paris FC is not responsible for anything.
It's becoming unbearable.
The L2 match was televised by beIN, it was Saint-Étienne…
Yes, we were televised on beIN, there was an audience, so the impact was greater.
Viewers saw the extent of the damage.
Journalists relay, they are right when they use terms like unworthy, infamous, unacceptable.
For the club, it is indeed catastrophic in terms of image.
If this continues, we will become the laughing stock of L1 and L2 because of this lawn.
In the meantime, we are losing points and spectators.
The players can't take it anymore.
Stéphane
(Gilli)
and Sandrine
(Soubeyrand
) try to make their teams play.
But on certain ball releases, we get scared because of the state of the pitch even though our players are not penguins.
“I’m going to start to believe that the Paris town hall doesn’t really appreciate football…”
When we know the state of the pitch, wasn't this operation of stringing together the two matches ultimately too risky?
Okay, there was a lot of rain this afternoon.
But a normal pitch would have been able to absorb the two matches.
Last Saturday, we played at the Robert-Diochon stadium in Rouen.
It welcomes QRM in L2, Rouen in National, and rugby, which had played the day before our match.
But the lawn held up.
However, it had also rained.
But it is a quality hybrid pitch which is well maintained.
Unlike that of Charléty.
If we no longer had to play when it rains in Paris, we wouldn't play much...
(Ironic)
.
I think that in Orly, it rains as much as in Paris, right?
However, our training grounds are pancakes.
But we have a quality service provider.
And for our hybrid, we invested in thermal regulation.
It's more expensive, sure, but at least it pays off.
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Do you mean that the work on the Charléty lawn which cost 1.250 million euros was carried out at a discount this summer?
Yes, the lawn was poorly made.
And the maintenance is not up to par.
There are two service providers who installed the Charléty lawn.
They do not agree with each other or with the directives of the stadium management.
When no one agrees, we see the deplorable result that it causes.
At this level, it's just a mass of incompetence.
Between Christmas and New Year's Day, no one worked on the stadium.
And for the match against Annecy on January 10, the pitch was worse than December 19 against QRM.
Do you blame Paris town hall?
They had been offered a replacement during the last three weeks without L2 matches.
But they didn't accept.
We see the result today.
There are not enough resources provided.
Light therapy only solves 10% of the problem.
At some point, enough is enough... Everyone saw me pacing the pitch before the match.
I took photos.
The pitch was already in poor condition before the match started.
I will call Mayor Anne Hidalgo directly.
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She sent me a message a few weeks ago where she shared her dissatisfaction.
But nothing has changed since.
We have to find a solution because this is becoming ridiculous.
Paris town hall has problems with PSG.
She also has problems, which are not of the same nature, with Paris FC.
I'm going to start to believe that the Paris town hall doesn't really like football...
“I tell myself that the scandal is so huge that it must quickly trigger things…”
What solutions do you propose?
We propose to take over the management of the Charléty lawn.
But on condition that no one runs around on it when we're not there.
When we give ourselves the means to manage like at Orly, we see the result... It's the entire stadium that raises questions... There is a problem with ticket offices as soon as we exceed 6-7,000 spectators.
We can put in reception agents, but we cannot multiply them.
Today, people returned to the stadium until the 30th minute.
It is not normal.
We are also ready to take over the management of the stadium while we do... Because when we see that we have so much difficulty in imposing a quality pitch, we risk still being there in ten years if we want to transform the stadium .
Are you considering leaving Charléty if nothing changes?
We're not there yet.
But we have to think about it.
There, I am disillusioned, angry and disappointed for our two teams, our staff, our spectators and our employees.
But I am someone who is positive in life.
I tell myself that the scandal is so huge that it must quickly trigger things...