Hello and bonsoir !
It is a late summer evening in Paris,
and it’s the night after Paris Saint Germain lost in the Champions League Final
so there’s a lot of disappointed Parisian football fans out there today.
But there are some Parisian football fans
who couldn’t care less.
This is Saint Ouen,
a traditionally working class and culturally mixed area
on the northern edge of the city.
It’s home to one of the world’s biggest antique markets,
but more importantly,
it’s also home to Paris’ most antique football team.
Red Star FC have been around since 1897,
that’s more than twice as much history as those 1970s upstarts across town.
Tonight, it’s their first game of the new season,
and it’s also the first game where fans are allowed back.
So I thought we'd take the chance to go and see the oldest team in Paris.
This is the Stade Bauer, home to Red Star FC since nearly the beginning.
The club was founded on 21 February 1897 in a Parisian café by Jules Rimet.
Yes, THAT Jules Rimet.
That makes them oldest football club in Paris,
and the second oldest in France;
that particular crown is claimed by Le Havre,
and I say "claimed" because it’s time for a quick visit to Pedantry Corner.
Le Havre were formed in 1872
which is way before any other French football team,
but they were formed as an athletics and rugby club;
they didn’t play football regularly until 1894.
And there’s a small club in Strasbourg
that says well, we were playing football in 1890.
To which Le Havre say, ok,
but at the time Strasbourg wasn’t in France.
And that’s a whole other story.
Anyway back to Red Star.
They took their name from the trans-Atlantic shipping company the Red Star Line,
or so the story goes, no-one is quite sure.
But there was no direct link to socialism or communism.
I know I know.
But remember this is 1897,
and the use of a five-pointed red star as a communist symbol
doesn’t really happen until 20 years after that.
The number 93, by the way, is not a year; that’s their postcode in St-Ouen.
Their very first games were played on the grassy fields next to this radio mast,
and they moved a couple of times before settling at the Stade Bauer in 1909.
So they’ve been here 111 years;
and you can kind of tell.
If you want modern comforts it’s probably not for you,
but if you want footballing soul and romance
this place has it in spades.
Obviously we’re following pandemic regulations tonight
so everyone has to wear a face mask,
everyone gets a squirt of hand sanitizer on the way in,
and everyone has to sit one seat away from the nearest other person or group
so we’re under strict instructions to stay in the seats we’ve been allocated.
I’ve deliberately booked myself a seat in the back row
so that I’m high up and we’ve got a good view of the pitch for this video.
Er... wait. That says row A.
So where’s row P?
Ah here we are seat P8. That'll be my one.
Erm I’ll be honest everyone,
I’ve had a bit of a nightmare here.
Seriously though who puts row P at the front?
Probably the same kind of people who call their team Red Star and then play in green.
Tonight’s opposition are the mighty Bastia
and I say mighty because we’re in the 3rd tier of French football here
and Bastia are one of the bigger clubs at this level
if not the biggest;
3 years ago they were in Ligue 1
but following some financial irregularities they were demoted to the 5th tier,
and they’re now making their way back up the divisions.
So as the match kicks off,
it’s difficult to know quite what to expect from them.
Turns out they’re going to ping one into the top corner from 20 yards after just 2 minutes.
It doesn’t seem to discourage the home fans though
who get right back behind their team
and a few minutes later...
Top marks to the Red Star lads for an immediate response,
although not the best work on the social distancing there,
but it does give me an idea –
I could step forward and put my camera through the bars couldn’t I?
And my moment of inspiration seems to inspire the home side too, who are now well on top.
On the other hand I can’t actually be bothered to stand for the whole match when I’ve got a seat.
Being a football YouTuber is hard!
And of course Bastia immediately go on a raid down the right hand side,
which is swiftly cut short by a badly timed tackle.
And from the resulting free-kick,
Bastia retake the lead with a scrappy second,
and go over to celebrate with a bush.
And the away fans are going wild.
Pretty much literally in this case.
Following that early flurry of goals and chances
the two teams tighten up defensively
and there’s not much more in the way of goalmouth action
before the referee blows his whistle to end the first half,
and after one last song of encouragement as the players walk off,
the fans sneak out for a half time visit to the bar or the bathroom.
I’ve got to say I don’t like being in a cage but apart from that this ground is…
I mean it’s brilliant isn't it?
Proper old school.
There’s a big old terrace at the home end,
there’s a bit over there that’s been disused ever since it was damaged during a storm in 1999,
there’s what appears to be a small forest in that corner,
and to top it all off, there’s a random apartment block at the far end.
It’s basically a full house on Ramshackle Stadium Bingo
and I'm a little bit in love.
Admittedly that does mean that every time Red Star get promoted to the second tier,
they have to go and play somewhere else
because this place would not be safe with a large crowd,
but when they relegated again,
there’s always the consolation that they’re able to come back home.
Right let's see if they can get back into this.
Well that didn’t take too long, did it?
But then again,
neither did that.
To their credit the home fans just keep on going –
their team has just equalised
and they’re not going to let a little thing like immediately going behind again get in
the way of celebrating that.
Unfortunately though, things are about to get worse.
Midfielder Mayoro N’Doye, who’s playing his first match for the club,
is given a second yellow card for what looked like a fairly innocuous challenge,
and Red Star are down to 10 players.
And let’s be fair,
they had trouble defending set pieces even when they had 11.
Still, it doesn’t take too long for the home fans to start singing again.
The game’s probably lost now,
but hopefully Red Star can at least see out the rest of the match without doing anything silly.
Oh dear.
I'm beginning to suspect the guy in grey might be a secret Bastia fan.
Veteran winger Antony Robic steps up
and makes it 5-2 to Bastia
and for the first time the home supporters seem to have lost a bit of energy and enthusiasm
but it soon comes back.
New signing Johanne Akassou takes the responsibility
and brings it back to 5-3.
At this point there’s still a good twenty minutes left,
and we’ve already had 8 goals
which means the fans on the terraces have paid less than one euro per goal.
And yes they might be losing,
but the main thing is football is back,
and they’re going to have a good time anyway.
I like these guys.
And the team are showing some fight as well,
but with only 10 players, and tired legs,
it’s more and more difficult for them to break through the Bastia defence.
4 added minutes. Maybe there's time for one more big chance?
Unfortunately the Red Star striker balloons it
and with that
Bastia wrap up the victory.
Still, I've loved it. It’s been a hugely entertaining match,
it’s been beautiful to just be back at a football ground,
and despite conceding 5 at home to a newly promoted side
the fans are still cheering and applauding their team.
You wouldn’t see that at PSG.
I should say though, Red Star have never wanted to define themselves just as a kind of anti-PSG;
they much prefer it if you think of them as Red Star –
their own club with their own culture.
But it is tempting to draw comparisons:
Where PSG are money,
Red Star are tradition.
Where PSG are glamour,
Red Star are authenticity.
And where PSG are designer style and fashion,
Red Star are designer style and fashion.
I mean, this is still Paris, after all.
If you’d like to watch a Red Star game next time you’re in Paris,
the nearest metro station is Mairie de Saint-Ouen on line 13,
and actually I’ll get in trouble for saying this is Paris
because technically it is Saint-Ouen, and they are proud of that.
Tickets are 7€ standing or 12€ where I was sitting,
and if you’re in a wheelchair and you can bring a disability document,
entry is free.
Under pandemic restrictions, crowds are limited to a maximum of 5000,
but there were only 1500 when I went
so you shouldn’t have a problem getting in.
Anyway thank you all for watching
and I will see you soon.