The Sunday mass for OM supporters was scheduled for 5 p.m., where Jorge Sampaoli’s players faced Lille in the North (2-0 defeat, bad day in short). A procession of a few hundred of them, of all ages, however marched in the hours preceding the kickoff on the forecourt of the Stade Vélodrome, in Marseille, to pay tribute to Bernard Tapie, who died this Sunday morning.
“If he had had the town hall …”
At the foot of the portrait of the “Boss”, installed in front of the stadium, Sofiane, seated on a step with three white roses in hand, accuses the blow. “I was 18 years old in 1993. The announcement of his death really touched me,” explains this child from the northern districts. “Yet he is a Parisian by birth, but he will forever be engraved in the memory of Marseille. This city adopts people who love it and who give to it ”, knows Sofiane. “Nobody will bring as much as him to this club”, he adds, before going to flower the portrait of the one who brought the only cup with big ears to France.
But the man of a thousand lives is remembered not only for his victories. “A real man. He wanted to do a lot for the kids. Free entry to the stadium for them, that’s him, ”retains Philippe, 60 years old. “I think we missed something with Tapie … If he had had the town hall, we might not be in this situation,” he continues. Benoît Payan, the mayor of Marseille, who came to pay tribute to the man who “embodied Marseille”, will appreciate.
“Coming was the minimum”
“I couldn’t stay in front of my TV. When my father told me that people gathered in front of the Vel ‘, I spontaneously came to pay homage to the Boss, ”says Frédéric, 50 years old. Shortly after 4 p.m., a group of young South Winners unfurled a banner and cracked some smoke. “Stade B. Tapie Vélodrome”, proclaims this one, while one of them waves the flag bearing the effigy of the one who joined the Olympian pantheon.
“It is to recall the promise made by certain elected officials”, launches Hamza, one of the leaders of the group. “Coming was the minimum. We wanted to react quickly, ”he explains before heading off to the local“ to watch the match ”. Born in 1995, when the conviction of Bernard Tapie was confirmed on appeal in the context of the OM-VA case – a penalty of ineligibility which undoubtedly prevented him from taking the town hall – he nevertheless knows what the club and the city have to do with him. must.
“A furious madman”
Like Valentin, 28 years old. An adopted Marseillais, who arrived on the shores of the Mediterranean eight years ago. “He was a raving madman. He started from nothing and he accomplished some crazy things. Me, he inspires me a lot. I tell myself that it does not matter the manners, the means or your social origins, with ambition you can achieve it. You cannot live in Marseille and not know who it is and what he did, ”he concludes.