They had prepared their crampons. But, in the end, they changed their minds. On the eve of the charity football match – for the benefit of the fight against cyberbullying affecting children – between the French National Assembly football team and a selection of former internationals (Robert Pirès, Sidney Govou, Christian Karembeu …), the deputies of insubordinate France decided, according to our information, to boycott the game.
The cause: they protest against the presence, in their team, of players labeled National Rally (Philippe Ballard, Julien Odoul, etc.). For the first time, in fact, the footballing deputies – among whom macronists, LRs, socialists … – had accepted in their ranks representatives of the camp of Marine Le Pen. The latter were hitherto excluded from the French team of the National Assembly.
“We had not anticipated that there were all these RN deputies in the football team”
This Wednesday, September 28, we will therefore not see on the lawn of the Émile Anthoine stadium in Paris, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, Éric Coquerel, Ugo Bernalicis, David Guiraud, and a few others. Asked last week by Le Parisien – Today in France, LFI deputy Éric Coquerel confirmed his presence (as central defender, he specified). “We had not anticipated that there were all these RN deputies in the football team. We were hot to play, so we said yes, as usual, as in the previous term. But the question of our participation arose when we knew that there could be RN deputies, ”we now whisper to rebellious France.
In the Mélenchon camp, a press release is being prepared to justify this refusal. “With all the rebels who want to play, including deputies, there are at least eleven of us and we could make a team on our own, ironically an elected Mélenchonist. That would solve the problem”. The international context, with the victory of Giorgia Meloni in Italy, is undoubtedly not foreign to this reversal.
“The labels must remain in the shorts”
“I regret the instrumentalization and hostage taking of our event. By what right should such and such a player be prohibited from participating according to his party? The labels must remain in the shorts, ”reacts Renaissance MP Karl Olive, one of the three captains.
The presence of elected RNs also caused cold sweats in the rest of the left. At first, one of the three team captains, the socialist Marietta Karamanli, had also confirmed her presence at Le Parisien. “I intend to be vigilant with my colleagues on the behavior of the players and careful that this participation is not a platform and that no offensive, discriminatory, racist or sexist remarks or behavior are made or made. There will be sanctions as in any team,” she warned.
But finally, this Tuesday after a meeting in the morning, the PS group in the Assembly followed suit with its ally Nupes. “No socialist deputy will take part tomorrow (Wednesday) in the football match of the French team of parliamentarians, announces the group in a press release. (…) This is the first time that the RN has been invited to participate in a match of the French team of the National Assembly. We will also not participate in the next matches of the XV parliamentary rugby if the RN is present. Socialist and related deputies refuse this trivialization of the extreme right”.