ten surprising news about the oval ball

It’s a little more than a match. A literary melee with surprising play. With News from the Ovalie, Arcane 17 editions have just published a nice little book to read during these World Cup times. The Tarbes house wanted to pay tribute to rugby, dear to its lands in the South-West, by publishing ten short stories written by eclectic authors (journalists, professional players, crime fiction authors, senior civil servants or professors). Memories of memorable matches, of cold trampled grass, of red and black outfits donned or of funerals to the sound of The Estaca (the anthem of the supporters of the Harlequins Perpignan Sports Union), the ten texts – uneven but touching – contain little pearls which show the roots of the culture of the oval ball.

The most accomplished is undoubtedly that of Brice Torrecillas, who, in In the center of the posts, features a widowed wine merchant and his young son, supporters of the Perpignan team: Sundays at the Aimé-Giral stadium, the endless anecdote of a try scored by the father during his splendor, the customers who haunt the store as much for the bottles than to talk about the last match… Then the passion which gives way to the craze for books, to the great displeasure of the father, who continues to go alone to support his team. The distance increases its share of disappointments until the accidental death of the old man. The son will then try something crazy: bury the father’s ashes in his favorite place. The words to express the mad passion are direct, the style is clear, and the reader is gripped by the emotion.

“This is the last thing we have left!” »

The style is more direct for the episode of dystopia offered by Laurent Blondiau, former chief of staff of Carole Delga. The senior civil servant, who nevertheless more readily displays his passion for football, succeeded in a nice exercise with his William, come back, they’ve gone crazy. We thus follow an old retired trade unionist worker who goes to Paris to visit his highly placed son in a ministry by surprise, in order to give him a soap. The situation is serious: the government has decided to ban rugby, a sport considered too violent. The view on the disconnection of liberal decisions and the distance of policies from rural areas rings true: “Why don’t you leave us alone, huh?” You took everything from us. The factory, the post office, the station, the young people and now rugby (…). This is the last thing we have left! »growls the father, before reminding his bureaucrat son of the valley where he comes from.

It is also a surprising short story, the only one written by a woman: Laurence Biberfeld. In Mister Pack, the author of detective novels recounts the delivery of a migrant teenager by a doctor, volunteer coach of a team of underprivileged people. As soon as she gets up, the young woman abandons the baby and joins the street and the squats. We find her a few months later on a field in Bègles, where the doctor’s association has its protégés play. The strongest pages are those which narrate the birth, with the young exile frightened by the size and face of the rugby doctor leaning over her.

The little opus of around a hundred pages also contains its share of nostalgia, reminders of the blessed days of amateur sport, and even an essay by a pro rugby player, Yohan Le Bourhis, a player who plays in the Top 14. It will delight aficionados and recent enthusiasts alike.