With less than 48 hours to reveal their work of several months, the pressure is palpable within the Chanot park, not far from the Vélodrome stadium. They are about twenty supporters of Olympique de Marseille, to refine what will be the first tifo designed and produced by women in a group of supporters, according to the South Winners, on the occasion of the reception of Strasbourg this Sunday ( 8:45 p.m.)
Emeline, 35, is one of the women in the group to have led this project. “The idea came last year during the 35th anniversary of the Winners. We were a few girls rather well invested in rolling placemats and helping the boys for this occasion. We said to ourselves “why not make a tifo that represents us, the girls”. One of our managers heard us, and he decided to present the idea to Rachid [Zeroual, le président des South Winners] because we are more invested than some guys, ”she recalls.
“Those who were against recognized the quality of our work”
During the big end-of-year meeting, Rachid Zeroual gives them three weeks to present ideas and models, “a WhatsApp group is created to look for ideas and validate them”, and the project is finally tied up for the meal of Christmas and approved “by 85% of members in a vote”, according to Rachid Zeroual.
The twenty women gathered around this project were able to take advantage of Parc Chanot, at the same time as the rest of the group was preparing the tifo against PSG, to create this tifo which represents them. “We were there day and night for six days, doing the tracing, the contours. It’s very meticulous, we painted from A to Z, we helped the seamstress, to roll up the placemats and then the filling. And there we prepare the tubes to deploy it, there is a lot of stress and apprehension for it to come out well since it has never been done before”, confides Emeline, proud to see that “even those who were against the idea recognized the quality of our work”.
“They welcomed me with open arms”
A huge investment, worthy of the proposed show, which seemed unimaginable for Emeline a few months ago, she who was a simple member of the Winners after being introduced to the stadium by her dad. “I had a few preconceptions, I told myself that it was not the place of a woman to be part of a core of supporters. A little before I turned 35, I met several people who were very involved in the life of the group, and they invited me to come and see how things are going locally, the preparation of a tifo. They welcomed me with open arms, and I said to myself that I could trust,” says Emeline.
Times have changed and the South Winners has more and more members, 30 years after the exclusion of women decided by Depé, the group’s founder. “There have always been women at the South Winners, but there was a time, when we were young, it was a mess between the guys. So Depé had decided to dismiss them, ”smiles Rachid Zeroual today, proud of the feminization of his platform.
Moreover, Emeline does not see “everything you could hear on the macho side, between oneself”, but rather perceives “a family from which it is very hard to detach”, to the point of sharing her passion with her daughter of 9 years. “In fact, it’s more a question of finding a happy medium, finding your place and staying there, being there for the right reasons: to support my city, my club, OM. I like what I do, and I transmit these values to my daughter, the good reasons why we are here. And it’s not to make the balaclava, ”she warns.