We all attended on Saturday evening, whether at the Stade de France or in front of our televisions, a very wonderful rugby celebration. From the moment of the anthems to the celebrations after the final whistle, what a spectacle, with a packed arena cheering on the French XV, or even the All Blacks.
Many people compare this situation with the one currently facing the French football team, which experienced, a few days earlier, the worst crowd in its history at the Stade de France (during the France-Israel match in the Nations League). ). 16,611 people in football compared to a sellout for rugby, the gap is big.
We are also drawing more and more parallels between the two sports. The arrivals of the players at Clerefontaine are compared to those of the players at Marcoussis, the ways of singing the Marseillaise before the matches are also deciphered, as well as the performances of the two teams on the pitch, with the Blues of football much more criticized than their comrades of the oval ball.
These incessant comparisons have considerably annoyed a former footballer: Jérôme Rothen. In his show “Rothen is on fire” on RMC Sport, the former French international regretted that we constantly put football and rugby face to face. Not because he doesn't like rugby, quite the contrary. But because they are two sports, two worlds that have nothing to do with each other. He also explains why, according to him, football is more criticized by the general public for this distant side of the players, which contrasts sharply with players of the French XV who are very close to the public.
It annoys me that people are comparing the two sports. Because I am obviously a big fan of football but I am also a big fan of rugby (…) For me it is very complementary with football. And vice versa, a lot of rugby players watch football, especially in my time. Today, in fact, things have evolved.
It has evolved because there is more and more of a bubble in football. And we can't get into this bubble because people who don't necessarily know football and who are discovering it and who are businessmen tell you that you have to protect them. Much more than rugby players need to be protected. So proximity to people, in football it is difficult to exist whereas it exists enormously in rugby. And they are right to go there.
The rugby atmosphere praised by Rothen
Being the good rugby fan that he is, Jérôme Rothen went to the Stade de France on Saturday evening and came out truly dazzled by everything he saw: “I went with my son, he had a great time. He's ten years old and I saw stars in his eyes. He had a huge blast, like me.” Positive words which were followed by a comparison with his sport and there, the feeling is indeed much less positive. While there are very good examples to be taken in the sports which are right next door.
In football, we fart so much higher than our butts that we don't help ourselves elsewhere. We also have to take into account what is happening elsewhere (…) La Marseillaise taken over by 80,000 people, I have never seen that. Even in football, in big matches, I have never seen that. I had shivers. We always have whistles, this and that. Damn***, but everyone was singing and what's more, you also respect the opponent, New Zealand, the haka was respected.
To summarize
More and more frequently, rugby and football are very often compared. IN terms of the atmosphere in the stadiums, the attitudes of the players, the anthems… A former French footballer would like these comparisons to stop because for him, their worlds are complementary. But he didn't hold back from praising the atmosphere of rugby matches, which we should really take inspiration from in football.
