For a lot of rugby fans, it is the anthem of the RCT. A song that makes Mayol’s wings vibrate before the start of the matches. A cry which, it is said, has the power to freeze the adversaries of the Red and Black (not sure) and to “put the hair on the head” of the followers of the oval (more likely). The history of the “Toulon haka” in the service of the XV of the harbor is however relatively recent on the scale of a club born 117 years ago.
“It was the Fadas who introduced Pilou Pilou to Mayol in the year 2000”explains Gilles Montal, former president of the emblematic supporters club. “We heard it in the junior Reichel locker room, sung by hooker Noël Curnier. With our friends, we had the idea of launching it from the Bonnus stand on a megaphone.” The trunk of a certain Jubi de Besse quickly converted the crowds, delighted to shout their “toulonitude” at the top of their lungs.
“Then the league banned the use of sound amplification devices in stadiums”continues Gilles Montal. “In 2005, the president of the RCT Eric Champ therefore decided that the Pilou would be launched on the microphone. It remained Marcel Bodrero's version.” The former Rouge et Noir full-back, who died in 2011 at the age of 90, is still presented today as “the inventor” of the terrible war cry. A paternity yet largely exaggerated.
“Marcel Bodrero just took the singing with him”
Daniel Costantini, ex-coach of the legendary Barjots handball team, knows something about it. His father, Paul Costantini, was a teammate of Marcel Bodrero in the 1940s, when he played at Smuc, the large sports club in Marseille. He says: “At the time, all the sports sections of Smuc had a sort of priest of Pilou Pilou, responsible for pushing him on big occasions. When Marcel Bodrero returned to the Var after his studies, he just contented himself with take the song with him”. After which, the lyrics slightly modified to stick to the colors of Toulon, the future sports teacher at the Dumont d'Urville high school will convert dozens of young Moccot rugby players to this sonic pleasure. We know the rest.
According to Daniel Costantini, there remained a lot of resentment on the side of the Marseille city. “The great elders of Smuc did not appreciate that the RCT completely appropriated Pilou. But hey, today, they are all dead…”
-“These are old stories”confirms Stéphane Tollet, head of the Marseille rugby section. “Yes, we have the Pilou Pilou displayed at the entrance to our club house but no one sings it anymore. And we are very happy that such a popular team has picked it up”. Forgotten also the vitriolic letter sent by Smuc to Mourad Boudjellal in 2017, invoking, with nuance, “plagiarism”, “imposture” and other “forfeiture”.
A Kanak war song imported to Algiers?
The reason for this amnesty is perhaps due to the fact, ultimately, that Pilou Pilou is not very Provençal either. Unearthed by the blog surlatouche.fr eight years ago (and easily consultable on the Gallica website of the National Library), the review Algiers studentpublished in October 1928, published a stunning version of the song. With a few differences – here the women are pregnant and not disheveled; we go down towards the plains rather than towards the sea – the current roar of Besagne sounds like two cauliflower ears to that uttered a century ago by the players of the RUA, the University Racing of Algiers. As for the genesis of the work, the author of the publication (“Bobette”) evokes warlike tribes of American Indians and the pen of a mysterious group of Harvard students.
The truth, if there is only one, is perhaps found more in New Caledonia, a land of coconut trees par excellence, where a war dance called Pilou Pilou was once extensively documented by travelers. In his Oceanian stopoversGuy Chantepleure (1870-1951) describes for example a Kanak tradition which “formerly accompanied various ceremonies, including human sacrifices.. If the connection with the matches at Mayol is debatable – although – it is not the kind of information that troubles Gilles Montal either. After all, he recalls, “Peña Baiona (the anthem of Rowing Bayonnais, Editor’s note) is the work of an Austrian composer in the 70s…”
