“In the same family, the grandfather and the grandson can have memories of this stadium at different times, it is a bridge between generations”, estimates Éric Michaud, director of “From Lescure to Chaban, 100 years of 'history and exploits'. This 52-minute documentary is currently being filmed. It is expected to be completed in early 2025.
It is obviously the centenary of the Sports Park, created in 1924, (the stadium itself was built in 1938, with a view to the Football World Cup) which justifies this film. Produced by the Mérignac company Écrans du monde, it is based on archives from Bordeaux-Métropole, “Sud Ouest”, the Préservons Lescure association or France 3.
Éric Michaud and producer Guillaume Peres have found many striking images. Including those of the Girondins de Bordeaux, resident club from 1938 to 2015, of course: “Historic matches, like the one against Juventus in 1985 or the comebacks against Hajduk Split in 1982 and AC Milan in 1996. But also the championship title of 1984, which was played in Rennes, but which was followed by a big party in Lescure. Or the one after the return to the first division in 1992.”
Éric Michaud and Guillaume Peres also look back on the final of the 1963 French Rugby Championship, between US Dax and the Boniface brothers' Stade Montois. And they do not forget the cycling past of this stadium which housed a velodrome until 1985. “André Darrigade came there from Landes to train. He notably told us how, in 1964, he won the Bayonne-Bordeaux stage of the Tour de France, which he had dreamed of for a long time. » And apart from sport, there were also the Dire Straits concerts (1992) and those of Johnny Hallyday (2003, 2009 and 2012), with giant stage, big screens and fireworks.
All these highlights are discussed through interviews with commentators (Jacques Vendroux, Jean-Michel Larqué), athletes (Bixente Lizarazu, Alain Giresse or rugby players Matthieu Jalibert and Maxime Lucu, the UBB now being the resident club of the Lescure stadium now Chaban-Delmas), by Marc Saboya, professor of Art history at Michel de Montaigne University, to talk about the Art Deco architecture of the place, typical of between the wars, as well as the mayor, Pierre Hurmic. “He explains how he wants to renovate the complex behind the stadium in order to encourage sports practice,” explains Guillaume Peres.
Incidentally, this documentary should show the particularity of this equipment: “The last of this age in France which still hosts matches in the heart of the city. All the others were destroyed or abandoned. Or the big football or rugby matches take place on the outskirts. In Chaban-Delmas, there is still this habit of high-level sport that we go to see by bike or tram. »
All of this should be seen on France 3 “during 2025”. Guillaume Peres cannot be more precise at the moment. But it evokes a preview. “Probably in a cinema. »