Don’t talk to him about “Tom Thumb”. Bruno, founder of Kop du Roy, a group of supporters of FC Versailles 78 (FCV78) has the good impression that his club has been taken for a walk by the authorities of French football. And it is little to say since according to his calculations, “we have already traveled 3,200 kilometers and we will do 5,000 in four laps of the Coupe de France”. To understand why the supporters of the Yvelines club have the impression of having filmed a remake of La Big Mopwe must return to the zone of truth, to the green rectangle, in short to the terrain.
It turns out that the Montbauron stadium in Versailles does not have lighting because of a heavy legacy. “Due to the presence of the Château and the rules of the Buildings of France, there must not be any masts that exceed a certain height and there must not be, after dark, any visible light source from the king’s bedroom”, explains Anthony Perrat, president of the FCV78 association. As a result of which no pylons surmounted by clusters of projectors in Montbauron. “But it will improve and thanks to our journey this lighting story will have been brought to light”, he comments.
No stadium available in Ile-de-France
Due to this lighting problem, the round of 16 against Toulouse that Versailles should have received was reversed. The club did request a derogation to play during the day, but the federation refused because of the constraints linked to the broadcasters. “Of course the FFF could have put a little more pressure on them, admits Anthony Perrat, but the main thing is that we won”. Nevertheless Bruno had a hard time digesting this refusal, especially since Bergerac, the opponent of the quarterfinals, obtained a derogation to be able to play in Périgueux on “a rugby field”, comments the furious supporter.
Then comes the semi-final which obviously FCV78 cannot play in Montbauron. However, as the competition tightens, the stadiums must move upmarket, which limits the possibilities of relocation of Versailles. “There was a series of unavailability which meant that it was not possible, laments Anthony Perrat. The Stade de France was too big, the Parc des Princes was changing its lawn, the prefect vetoed the Charléty stadium, perhaps because of the incidents during the Paris FC-OL match. In short, there was a series of bad luck which prevented us from playing in Ile-de-France. »
“A bogus excuse”
The boss of Kop du Roy prefers to speak of ill will. “No one will have given us a hand,” he fumes. And the Park which must change its lawn, it is a bogus excuse, as if they had planned to be eliminated in the quarter-finals. “For” the supporters, it’s not easy to get around Nice even if by plane it’s a little over an hour’s journey when it took us nine hours by bus to go to Toulouse, prefers to put the president of the FCV78 association. And that’s also the life of a supporter. »
And the leader of the supporters, who has put down his CPs, will be present in Nice with around fifty members of Kop du Roy to support his team and “bring the cup home”. But he also planned unfriendly banners towards the authorities of French football, and in particular of the federation which did not “help them much”. “We suffered, we never had our say, he complains. The world of professional football doesn’t care about us. If that’s the football party…” “Obviously it would have been a great party to play in Charléty or in another stadium in Ile-de-France with 15,000 to 20,000 supporters, regrets Anthony Perrat. But we are happy, we are in half! And we hope to win so that we can finally play in Ile-de-France! »