The Calvados National 3 club, encouraged by the professional cyclist, is preparing to experience the biggest match in its history this Tuesday in the round of 16 against Le Puy.
On March 6, 1982, 13,000 spectators crowded into the Venoix stadium in Caen to support Lisieux led by the proud mustache of Didier Notheaux against the Girondins de Bordeaux of Marius Trésor, Alain Giresse, René Girard, Bernard Lacombe and Gérard Soler led by Aimé Jacquet . After the Homeric 0-0 draw in the first leg, the Lexoviens lost 5-0 in the return match at Parc Lescure. End of the dream. Calvados has been waiting since the return of an amateur club in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France. Dives-Cabourg (National 3, 5e division) will be the one, after having notably eliminated the Dragons of Tahiti and Saint-Denis de la Réunion. Dives-sur-Mer and its Heurtematte stadium will welcome 2,000 spectators this Tuesday (8:45 p.m., beIN Max 8).
Guaranteed atmosphere, in the middle of working-class towns, a scale model Bollaert stadium. Maxime Verrier, the goalkeeper, told West France : “It’s quite a symbol that Philippe (Clément, the coach) started singing Les corons after our last two qualifiers for the Coupe de France. There are quite similar values, with populations who have experienced, on different scales, similar things, from a social point of view. What these two populations did, somewhere, was that they took refuge in Football. » In Dives (5,100 inhabitants), Alain Delon filmed Gypsy, directed by José Giovanni. Next door, Cabourg (3,100 inhabitants) recounts the Belle Époque, cultivates the romanticism of Marcel Proust, and rolls out its red carpet at the Film Festival. And in the stands, around the handrail, hearts beat in unison.
On the Côte Fleurie, in the 1980s, “we said football in Dives, motorball in Houlgate and basketball in Cabourg”recalls a brochure. Football has since taken up more space. Dives and Cabourg have joined hands above the bridge since 2014, defending the same colors. And for several months there has been the desire of Villers-Houlgate (N3) to expand the circle of a team which is experiencing its most successful campaign in the Coupe de France.
In 1999, Dives-sur-mer reached the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France. The epic had been stopped by Lille (leader of the Second Division coached by Vahid Halilhodzic, led by Grégory Wimbée, Djezon Boutoille and Bruno Cheyrou). Philippe Clément was then player-coach. Arrived through a classified ad… He is still at the head of the team. “We were considered heroes, it was just after the 1998 World Cup, we were a bit like the Diving world champions ! I was a bit like the Aimé Jacquet of Dives… They were wonderful moments and exceptional memories”remembered the technician in Le Pays d’Auge.
Dives-Cabourg (beaten 3-0, Saturday in the championship, in Chatou) will challenge Le Puy (N2) who created a sensation in the round of 32 by eliminating Montpellier (4-0) and plunging the club of president Laurent Nicollin into the crisis. Dives-Cabourg has only been talking about that since the draw on December 22. With a supporter named Guillaume Martin, one of the leaders of the Groupama-FDJ cycling team. “I followed in detail as they managed to pass the rounds. There must have been both frustration to see that the draw gave them an N2 and not a big fish but they will perhaps be lucky enough to go one more round and find themselves in the 8th facing a big fish. This will be fun to follow. There will be people…” In this team the other link with cycling is carried by Matthis Barteau, defender, the son of Vincent who was a flamboyant wearer of the yellow jersey (12 days during the 1984 Tour) before winning the bicentenary stage, on July 14 1989 in Marseille.
The next day, Guillaume Martrin (who kicked off a Caen L2 match) will go on training, for the first time on the Teide volcano, in the heart of the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands). Further afield, Normandy will once again be in the spotlight during the Tour de France, with the Caen-Caen stages (5e) and Bayeux-Vire (6e). “Stefan Küng will have taken the yellow jersey after the time trial and then we will defend it, so I will be well placed, I will win in Vire and buoyed by euphoria David (Gaudu) will win in Mûr-de-Bretagne (7th stage)… “
Before the Grande Boucle, there is a round of 16 (for one of the last four N3 clubs still in competition) intended to remain in the memories of a club whose slogan is “Here is not elsewhere…”
