The Ligue 2 match between Guingamp and Rodez will not take place tonight at Roudourou. But the Ruthenian will long remember the trip. Victim of technical damage, the plane which was to bring them to Brittany this morning had to turn back. And the team seems to have lived through a real nightmare.
“We are all still shocked. I usually say that I’m not afraid of anything but there… After ten minutes of flight, a very big smoke took hold of the plane. You couldn’t see ten meters away. It smelled very strongly of burning, ”says Pierre-Olivier Murat, president of Rodez Aveyron Football (RAF), present on board. “We are all discussing, managing the stress and the fear of the players but we are not going to die for a football match”, added the leader, visibly shaken by the experience.
Alain Regourd, CEO of the airline Amelia, recognizes “a release of smoke”. “The pilot followed the protocol to perfection, we turned around, we are dealing with the problem. It was calm on the plane but some players were scared,” he said.
The precedent of the trip to Bastia
In 2004, the Rodez club had already been the victim of an incident during the flight which brought the team to Bastia for a CFA match (4th division). The door of the plane had exploded in full flight over the Mediterranean, sucking two players into the void, finally restrained by their belts.
The team had landed in Bastia, unscathed, and had been able to play, and win, their match the next day.