Last year, whilst visiting family in the Alsace region of France, I stumbled upon the opportunity to take in a game. It was a roasting hot Saturday and to be honest football was just about the last thing on my mind, I was quite happy to sit drinking in the delightful City of Strasbourg. My own team had just finished the domestic season in disappointing fashion and forgetting all about the game would have been fine by me
Football has a way of creeping back in to your psyche though, particularly when you least expect it. I was introduced to Francois, a friend of a friend, who just happened to be a sports football correspondent for a regional newspaper. We talked briefly about his job covering local football and my own interest in the game, at the end of which he told me I had to go along to watch a French league game sometime. I readily agreed and was then surprised to learn that there was in-fact a game that very night… so fast-forward 4 hours and I found myself inside Stade de la Meinau, home of RC Strasbourg
Now I remembered Strasbourg as a top flight club with players such as José Luis Chilavert, Frank Leboeuf, a young Olivier Dacourt and the legendary Jean-Pierre Papin as manager. I also remembered them beating Liverpool in the UEFA Cup in the mid 90′s. A little research and I discovered this was back in 1996 when they eventually lost over 2 legs to Inter Milan – despite beating them at home. This being an Inter team that included the likes of Pagliuca, West, Winter, Simeone, Djorkaeff, Recoba and soem chap called Ronaldo
So I was now in the ground and looking forward to taking in a Ligue 1 game. My new friend Fancois had blagged me past various stewards and I was pitch side at the 29,000 capacity stadium. It was certainly impressive and wouldn’t look out of place in the English top flight…
Only this wasn’t going to be a top flight game. I was shocked to discover that Racing Club de Strasbourg 1906, or RCS as the locals know them, had actually fallen to the 5th tier of French football!!!
They had spent a few years between Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 before relegation in 2008 signalled the start of a dramatic slide. In the 2009–2010 Season they suffered their second relegation in three seasons and dropped out of Ligue 2. They then failed to gain re-promotion at the first attempt and entered complete liquidation due to financial trouble on 17th July 2011… eventually being re-instated to CFA 2, Group C
This is a club who are one of only six to have won all three major French trophies: the Championship, the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue. In context it’s like Nottingham Forest dropping out of the Championship (thanks @AGibneyftbl) and playing non-league
On a happier note, it turns out I was there to watch the club clinch promotion to the 4th tier at the first attempt. They comfortably beat Jarville 3-0 in a game I would liken to English League 1 standard (this might have been more to do with the superiority of RCS than the standard in general). There was a crowd of 7,824 present and the average for the season came out at an impressive 6,472. This in a regional league was unprecedented. Francois told me that the clubs most passionate fans are known as the Ultra Boys 90 and they were able to generate a fantastic atmosphere throughout – no mean feat in such a large ground
The celebrations at the final whistle were a fantastic experience to be part of. I watched from the press box with Jean-Alain Fanchone, a player who had just signed for Serie A side Udinese from Strasbourg and was obviously ecstatic to see their success. Representatives of the Ultra Boys were invited to address the crowd, the players sang (badly) and flares lit up the summers evening…
The club certainly left an impression and I’m looking forward to my next game. Since the visit I’ve followed their progress this season in CFA Group B as they strive to continue their march back up the French pyramid. They are currently sitting 3rd, just a couple of points behind the league leaders who occupy the sole promotion place, so are in with a real chance. Although to quote Andrew Gibney at French Football Weekly… “CFA is a swamp to get out”
Allez Le Racing
@JimStaples
Have a look at http://frenchfootballweekly.com who will be keeping an eye on the Strasbourg situation – also get following them and Andrew on Twitter @FrenchFtWeekly | @AGibneyftbl
