At the Saint-Marc stadium, in Lyon,
An electric grill behind the bar on which dozens of burgers and sandwiches are prepared in a row, football jerseys drying everywhere, a fridge stocked with sodas and sweets of all kinds, and a very damaged television screen. This 20 m2 “clubhouse” is the little corner of paradise for the senior men’s teams of the FC Point du Jour (5th arrondissement of Lyon) during Euro 2024. On this Monday evening of the Blues’ first match against Austria (1-0), it is here, next to their Saint-Marc stadium where they no longer have really training at the end of the season, which around twenty young footballers are keen to get together.
There is no guaranteed seat for everyone, but the “friendly” spirit of this modest neighborhood club, with a leading team in Departmental 2, easily compensates. A 23-year-old player, Djibrill describes FC Point du Jour, which is urgently looking for a coach for its women’s section: “All origins and religions coexist perfectly here, we are a bit like a family. It’s a very open club, and everyone appreciates this diversity. »
“The launch of this Euro has softened things a little”
On the heights of a 5th arrondissement which placed the National Rally in third position during the European elections of June 9 (16.04%), just behind the lists of Valérie Hayer and Raphaël Glucksmann, politics brutally invited itself into the discussions at the club since the dissolution of the National Assembly surprised by Emmanuel Macron. To the point of overshadowing Euro 2024?
Of Moroccan and Senegalese origins, Djibrill continues: “The launch of this Euro has softened things a little. There, we still have almost two weeks of ball before thinking about these elections. But it remains in the back of our minds, when we see all the noise that the post-European era has made. With the images of Ciotti and Pécresse, we were treated to a week of political reality TV, it even became a little funny. » What is less so, to hear this group of friends, is the prospect of seeing for the first time the National Rally governing in France, depending on the result of the legislative elections of June 30 and July 7.
“Guys, the polls are worrying”
A few deliberately provocative names aimed at Jordan Bardella are sometimes heard among certain young people watching the match with one eye, from outside the clubhouse. “Come on, if you don’t all vote in the legislative elections, Bardella will pass, eh,” says one of them during the first period. He does not need to convince Djibrill, who says “vote all the time”. One of his teammates, aged 19, regrets not being able to do the same. “In high school, they put a lot of stuff in our heads but they didn’t explain to us that we had to register on the electoral roll to be able to vote. »
He noticed it too late to be able to participate in the 2024 legislative elections. After having skipped the ballot boxes on numerous occasions, Medhi (28 years old) has just realized that he was one of “those removed” from the electoral lists. “Guys, the polls are worrying,” he slips. Failing to think about a ballot paper that he will not have for this election, Medhi plays the ultimate troll throughout the evening.
Medhi supports Austria to see DD decamp
Proud of his RB Leipzig jersey dear to the Austrian juggernaut Red Bull, he chanted from the kick-off: “Sabitzer, he’s hot, I can feel it”. Because the evening fight of this Lyonnais is identified, beyond the presence on the pitch of Marcus Thuram then of Randal Kolo Muani rather than Alexandre Lacazette: “This Deschamps era intoxicates me. They say that with him the Blues always go to the end but in the last Euro, we were taken out in the eighth by the Swiss chocolatiers… I really want that to change this time on the bench, so too bad if it has to pass by rapid elimination. »
He is not the only one in the room to cut the hardly exciting match of the French team version DD (pleonasm). Some laugh to see that the deliverance comes, at the end of the first period, from an Austrian own goal. And while we’re at it, this one is “spoiled” by Anel (20 years old), delighted to shout the news while watching his phone, even before the images reach Point du Jour. But in terms of general laughter, the climax of the evening arrives later, when Marcus Thuram sends a warhead into the sky of Düsseldorf after several leg kicks that will become a landmark (or not). “Seriously, who did he think he was? ”, we then hear.
“Not shocking” to see the Blues of football speaking out
During the half-time break, outside the “FC Point du Jour hammam”, there was already talk of the Inter Milan striker in the discussions. But for off-field reasons, after his courageous position taken at a press conference three days earlier, with a call to the French to “block the National Rally”. Djibrill gives his opinion on this media intervention which is causing so much reaction: “We are all football fans here and it can be a turn-off for some young people to see players from the France team take a stand, especially since an icon like Mbappé followed. It doesn’t seem shocking to me to see players from the France team express themselves on this. »
At his side, Malick (24 years old) specifies: “We understand the political issue in our country even better when we see Thuram and Mbappé talking about it. And then for us, it is not only the words of footballers that can count in the legislative elections, there is also that of YouTubers like Squeezie. It’s sure that it will push young people to vote. » Also 24 years old, Sofiane confirms: “Personally, I did not go to vote in the European elections, and the positions taken by Thuram and Mbappé encourage me a little more to go and do so for these two rounds of legislative elections. »
Our file on the 2024 legislative elections
In the background, the club’s first team coach Yannis’s main mission during this France-Austria is to flip the steaks and monitor the scores (for burgers and drinks) of each of his players. “I know that they talk to each other quite a bit about this situation and I prefer to leave this topical subject to them,” says the man who would not have imagined seeing political life one day invite itself like this into the welcoming club -house of FC Point du Jour. But the house adapts to this Euro 2024 which is so special for the French people. And what’s more, she gives credit with a smile.