Corsican clubs on the crest of a wave
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| AFP |
The new Ligue 1 season kicks off this weekend, and nowhere is the excitement more palpable than in Corsica. Home to just 320,000 inhabitants, the Mediterranean island boasts a pair of top-flight clubs in SC Bastia and Gazelec Ajaccio, not to mention Ligue 2 hopefuls AC Ajaccio and fourth-division outfit CA Bastia. More than ever, Corsica has become a veritable hotbed of the game, with Ajaccio – population 66,000 – the sole town in all of France possessing clubs in the elite and second tier.
Football is clearly thriving on the 'Isle of Beauty', and FIFA.com spoke with some of Corsica's leading football experts to uncover the reasons why. After all, who better to share the local secrets than iconic former goalkeepers Dominique Colonna and Pascal Olmeta, plus charismatic club official Francois Tagliaglioli?
"When you arrive on this island, you need to be able to adapt," said Olmeta, who clinched two league titles with Marseille. "The salaries aren't very high, but people are happy here." Uncapped by France despite several games on the bench, Olmeta has a firm idea of what gives local teams their strength. "The three main values of Corsican football are identity, passion and simplicity. If a player isn't capable of understanding that, there's no point in him coming to a Corsican club."
For the retired custodian, the key to identity is the need to "always give everything to defend your colours", and to stand together in the face of adversity. "It's that clear desire which often makes the difference," added Olmeta, who began his career with SC Bastia in 1981 and called time on his playing days at Gazelec 18 years later.
Intensity key
As for passion, the local fervour for the game goes much deeper than the supposed Mediterranean temperament. "The fact that a small part of the world like ours is so well represented just goes to show that it has a certain something," explained Colonna. "There's a love for the club, the shirt and the place itself here that's above the norm."
Now 86, Colonna knows all about success having helped France finish third at the 1958 FIFA World Cup™, while he also picked up a quartet of French championship crowns. Three of those came with the great Reims team of the 1950s, and Colonna has seen enough to know that passion can help level the playing field against more gifted sides. Nevertheless, he warned too that it can lead to games that are "very, and maybe too intense", and not just when Bastia and Ajaccio cross swords in derby meetings. Trips to Corsica have long been feared by teams from elsewhere in France, with even the most gifted prone to a bout of nerves.
"The fact that a small part of the world like ours is so well represented just goes to show that it has a certain something."
Dominique Colonna
Despite that reputation, the atmosphere at games has calmed somewhat since the Furiani disaster left such an enduring mark on the local game. On 5 May 1992, a temporary stand at the Stade Furiani collapsed under the weight of 10,000 supporters before kick-off at a French Cup semi-final between Bastia and Marseille, causing the deaths of 18 fans and leaving 2,357 people injured. Following a 23-year campaign to ensure that the disaster is properly remembered, Corsica recently succeeded in having the incident recognised as a national tragedy, with no games to be played on 5 May if that date falls on a Saturday.
The island experienced tragedy as well when Claude Papi, voted Corsican footballer of the century, died suddenly during a tennis match at 33 years of age on 28 January 1983. Capped three times by France, Papi played 414 games for Bastia and earned a stand in his name at the Stade Furiani, having helped the side reach the UEFA Cup final in 1978 during an epic run that ended in a 0-0 draw and 3-0 loss to PSV Eindhoven.
Warmth and solidarity
In terms of simplicity, meanwhile, no club better encapsulates Olmeta's third Corsican value than Gazelec. Founded by employees of French utility company EDF-GDF, the team's name is a portmanteau of 'gas' and 'electricity', and for many years they toiled away as a yo-yo outfit, moving back and forth between the third division and the amateur ranks after winning a quartet of amateur titles in the late 1960s. When they sealed yet another promotion to the third tier ahead of the 2011/12 season, surely few imagined that they would break into Ligue 1 within three years despite a budget last term of just €4.5m – the smallest in Ligue 2.
"Money doesn't always bring happiness," explained Tagliaglioli, Gazelec's honorary president and a figure inseparable from the club after more than 50 years of service. "When we don't have the means, we find a way." Finding a way will be the priority again this season as Gazelec begin the new campaign with the tightest budget in Ligue 1 history, but Tagliaglioli is confident that the club has much in its favour. "We can't attract players with a big cheque," he said. "What's more, we're trying to keep wages even to avoid any jealousy in the dressing room. That said, what we can offer is human warmth and the solidarity of a family club where all the officials are close to the players."
Those same officials are nothing if not realists, however, and they would be content to finish even just one spot outside the relegation zone. "But don't forget," added Tagliaglioli, "we owe it to ourselves to do this league justice."
Whatever happens, Gazelec will certainly not be going down without a fight.