“All my childhood and all my adolescence is PSG. And even today this is still somewhat the case, even as we get older. The passion of Kévin, 31, lives in every corner of a memory where the songs of Virage Auteuil resonate, images of years spent at the Parc des Princes or in the stadiums of France and Europe. In these memories, too, of an entry on the lawn by giving the hand to Jay-Jay Okocha, of a face-to-face meeting in full light during a Wanadoo challenge or of meetings as a ball collector. Before a match against Manchester United as the Park and its audience love them, this Tuesday, the lack is commensurate with these 20 years of devouring passion at this ultra from Franconville.
“It’s a terrible frustration not to be able to go to the stadium against Manchester United, he sighs, while the Parisian ultras have withdrawn since the start of the season. But the worst part was for Final 8, where our living room replaced the stadium, while we look every year where the final is going to be held, the price of plane tickets, etc. During confinement, some have dropped out of football a bit. Not me, I couldn’t take it anymore! “
Supporterism, a way of life
Like a lot of ultras, Kévin grew up with PSG, arrived at the stadium in the wake of his father for a PSG-Lens, “with the Madjer de Rai, in 1997”. Today, he has more than 300 PSG matches in the stands, including about sixty on the road to France or to the four corners of Europe. The bearded man was a subscriber for 10 years and then a member of Supras, one of the Auteuil groups that disappeared in 2010 as part of the Leproux plan. He then experienced the hassle of the blacklist “without ever having had a problem with the police” and participated in the creation of the Parias Cohortis in 2013 and campaigned for the return of the ultras to the Parc des Princes. He found “his” enclosure in 2016, when the doors reopened under the aegis of the CUP.
“The current situation reminds me of what we experienced during the protest, when we could not go to the stadium, except sometimes on the move,” says the Parisian. We had a taste… ”
For him, as for a good part of the 3,000 ultras of the Park, supporterism is a way of life. The 30-year-old who manages tourist accommodation has created a small nucleus of PSG enthusiasts, the “BS Paris”. “Among other things, it means Beer – Sausage, he smiles. We are members of the Collectif Ultras Paris, but we are an independent group of 10 friends. Our links have gone beyond football, we go on vacation together, our wives and children know each other. “
“60% of the pleasure is in the meeting and 40% in the rest”
The Covid-19 deprived them of one of the cements of this friendship: displacement, an essential element of ultra identity. “I find it difficult to separate the stadium, the football match and what is happening next door, but for me, 60% of the fun is in the meeting and 40% in the rest: driving together, drinking shots , to be in a city enemy, in inverted commas. You have to have lived it to understand, he confides. The last time was in Dortmund, in a city that breathes football. Being at the stadium, at 1,200, and creating an incredible atmosphere… ”
Kévin was not among the 4,000 fans massed in front of the Parc des Princes, who pushed the Parisians to Final 8 in a crazy scenario. Like all the other supporters, this Tuesday he will miss the return of Cavani, the former darling of the Park. “In my opinion, he will not play, but that would have made me weird, admits the Parisian. I liked Cavani a lot, but I thought he would have more respect. I don’t know how the Solid Turn would have reacted. It would have been special, with a mixture of applause and whistles. “
The curfew makes travel even more difficult and the father assures us “not to have decided” what he would do for the meeting. In the current context, the “BS” will not repeat its meeting of PSG-Bayern, concluded by a cracking of smoke in the garden of one of its members. While waiting for an improvement of the situation, the projects of Kévin and his family oscillate between raclette and programming of the ski holidays with their family. PSG should occupy a lot of conversations, far from the stadium, but not far from the heart.
Article original de: www.leparisien.fr
