2023-12-27 22:30:30
The idea came naturally to him. Spontaneously. With this simple desire to want to get together to “talk”, “exchange”, “remember good memories” and undoubtedly let many tears flow. Coming to pay his respects on Tuesday afternoon on the ashes of Sportica, the Gravelines basketball players’ hall ravaged by a spectacular fire on Monday, Geoffrey Bailly meets many people, known and usual supporters or simple anonymous people. All are overcome with grief, stunned and dismayed by the spectacle before their eyes.
The president of the Marin’s supporters club meets Marie-France, his counterpart from the Irréducibles association, on site. “We said to ourselves that it would be good to organize a gathering, a tribute, instead of the match that was planned,” says Geoffrey Bailly. BCM Gravelines was indeed due to host Paris Basketball on the last day of the Betclic Élite championship in 2023. A meeting obviously postponed to a date still unknown due to the fire.
At the initiative of our supporter groups, we will meet you this Thursday, December 28 from 6:30 p.m. to pay a final tribute to Sportica ????
The collection of stuffed animals initially planned will take place, we are counting on you to bring back as many as possible ????????????#TousBCM pic.twitter.com/gDYhUK29FV
— BCM Basketball (@BCMBasket) December 27, 2023
“It’s important to get together,” continues Bailly. The gathering time is set for 6:30 p.m., the time the match was scheduled to begin. “We convened the three supporters associations but it is open to everyone,” continues the man who is a civilian teacher. But, even if at 6:30 p.m. not everyone has left their work, I think there will be a lot of us because everyone is touched because what happened. The emotion will be strong. » Personalities from the city and the region, players from BCM are also expected.
“It looks like a funeral”
For security reasons, the crowd will be gathered in the parking lot adjoining the office and grouped in front of the main entrance located about sixty meters from the Sportica. Club employees, town hall employees and security agents will be there to monitor. “When they talked to us about it, we found the approach sympathetic, it’s a really good idea,” appreciates Romuald Coustre, General Manager of BCM. Since Monday there has been a continuous flow of people coming to the room, even people from Lille have come to see. It looks like a funeral but for a room. There are phases like mourning with incomprehension and grief. »
A distribution of stuffed animals will also take place during this gathering. It will replace the traditional Christmas days in support of Secours Populaire organized by the Basketball League where spectators of a match are invited to throw stuffed animals onto the floor which are then distributed to the association. “There will be tears, that’s obvious, but we want it to be a dignified and festive moment,” continues Coustre, who was behind the construction of Paris Basketball in 2018. Our musicians and the fanfare will be there as if it was a match. We don’t know how to do anything other than party…”
Furthermore, the club has started a race against time to find a fallback solution and a new venue to allow Gravelines to continue the season. The Salle Louis Dewerdt, used for the Dunkirk handball team, should host it. Meetings are planned daily but a definitive answer should not be given before early January. The players will resume training on January 4 at Loon-Plage.
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