Lhe world of all controversies opens this Sunday in Qatar. Didier Deschamps’ band is putting their title on the line, won four years ago in Russia after a stifling final against Croatia (4-2). The Blues, decimated by injuries, are far from being the big favourites. Nevertheless, their entry into the competition, Tuesday in Al-Wakrah against Australia, arouses high expectations in the population.
François da Rocha Carneiro, historian specializing in the France team, author ofA history of France in crampons (Editions Le Détour, 2022), recounts in an interview with Point the story of the bond that unites the French and the national team.
Point : The French team is eagerly awaited in Qatar after its world title in Russia four years ago. Since when has the national team aroused such popular interest?
Francois da Rocha Carneiro : We have to go back to the 1980s. Shortly before this period, the France team was rather considered the world champion in friendly matches. She was very good at winning when there was no stake. Everything changed, however, in 1982, at the World Cup in Spain. The Blues, led by coach Michel Hidalgo and his captain Michel Platini, cross the towers and climb to the semi-finals. A feat. They will finally bow to West Germany in a dramatized match as possible in Seville. Two years later, the Blues will end up winning their first title, Euro 1984 organized in France.
So the real turning point is this famous Seville 82?
Perfectly, because from Seville, the France team is finally perceived as a team with the potential to win. There was certainly a feat in 1958 with a third place at the World Cup organized in Sweden. But it’s a bit the tree that hides the forest: French football was not at the level and especially experienced the crisis in the 1960s. A lot of work was then done in the 1970s, in particular with the creation of a training system, to straighten out French football. That decade, the epic of AS Saint-Étienne in the European Cup contributed to the birth of popular interest in football. It was also at this time that the French equipped themselves with more and more color television sets, from which they could now follow a few matches of the Coupe de France and the France team.
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Ile-de-France residents invaded the Champs-Élysées after the world and European coronations of 1998, 2000 and 2018. This Parisian artery, on the other hand, is much more sparse on May 8, July 14 and November 11… French patriotism is expressed by soccer?
We’ve made a habit of celebrating our footballing victories on the Champs-Élysées since AS Saint-Étienne celebrated their defeat in the 1976 Champions League final by descending the famous Parisian thoroughfare. So I’m not sure that we should overinterpret the crowd effects on victory nights as being the ultimate manifestation of patriotism. I believe more in an identification effect. Patriotism is the love of the country of the fathers. But our French society is very colorful, with people having fathers from everywhere.
The France team is a reflection of this diversity. How do you explain that many French people of foreign origin prefer the national team of their parents’ country to the France team?
I have just discussed it with my students, some of whom are concerned. There is an attachment that pushes them to idealize the national team of their origins. This team, whether Portuguese, Algerian or otherwise, appears to be one of the last points of attachment to the country of origin. This does not mean that they do not support, moreover, the France team.
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Why are some players blamed for not singing The Marseillaise ?
The story goes back to 1996. During a political rally, Jean-Marie Le Pen pointed to the players of the France team, taking up the arguments of the far-right press of the 1930s. mercenaries and reproached them for their cosmopolitanism. The president of the National Front adds – as proof – that some players do not sing the national anthem. He interprets this as a sign of a lack of love for France on the part of people supposed to defend his jersey.
Since this controversy fomented by Jean-Marie Le Pen, players are strongly encouraged to sing the national anthem. In 2010, coach Laurent Blanc, after the South African scandal of the Domenech era, even had the words of the Marseillaise distributed to his players… On the other hand, no one is offended when athletes from other disciplines remain silent . Who remembers that three of the four French riders who were Olympic show jumping champions in 2016 did not take up the national anthem broadcast after the medal ceremony?
There are two weights, two measures…
Sure. French footballers are particularly pointed out because many of them have a former French colony as their country of origin. France has more to settle its colonial past than the players have to prove by this song their adherence to France.
After the strike of the Blues in Knysna in South Africa during the 2010 World Cup, public opinion shouted down its national players. In 1998 and 2000, she celebrated them as heroes. In football, do we also go from love to hate?
Probably yes. Above all, it shows that the crowd can be versatile… especially if given the opportunity. The sports press applied to hate Raymond Domenech, the coach of the time. The political world of the Nicolas Sarkozy years took advantage of the controversy to fuel the debate on national identity. Pure ideology.
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Part of public opinion expects a symbolic gesture of support from the Blues for migrant workers in Qatar and LGBT people. Is this their role?
Under the pretext that they are on TV, they are required to make the greatest political speeches and the greatest societal and environmental sensitivities… They have decided to support NGOs. This might be a good lead.
Why does everything related to the France team become so quickly controversial?
The France team is a huge sounding board, on the one hand, and there is a form of class contempt, on the other.
How is this class contempt characterized?
An example: the actor Vincent Lindon called for a boycott of the World Cup organized in Qatar. Why not ! Human rights are not respected and this competition is a climatic aberration. However, did this same Vincent Lindon, president of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival 2022, call for a boycott of films produced by the Doha Film Institute in competition at Un certain regard and La fortnight of directors? Answer: no. Cinema is an art, you see? Calls for a boycott of the World Riding Championships in Doha and the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Qatar are also rare… Why? Because these sports are followed, for the most part, by a certain social elite.
This contempt is also characterized by money…
Yes, we all remember this sentence from Anne-Sophie Lapix on the “millionaires” who “run after a ball” at the dawn of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. We don’t blame the children of millionaires for being millionaires too. So why are children from the suburbs blamed for it? More class contempt. Becoming a professional footballer involves great sacrifices, from an early age. It is also much more difficult to integrate the French team than to enter Normal Sup. The statistics are formal! There is an immense “proletarian” mass among professional players.