Claude Brunet is one of the bearers of the Olympic flame in Montmorillon, this Saturday, May 25. Deputy for sport at Poitiers town hall and vice-president of the Departmental Olympic and Sports Committee (CDOS), he is above all the founder of a football club in the Couronneries district (Poitiers) in which he is still active.
Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi… Many young people want to become football stars. One of them, between two passes during a training session, does not hide his ambitions: “one day I want to become Cristiano Ronaldo.” If the step is still high, many young people from the Couronneries district of Poitiers train on the grounds of the ASAC, Sports and Friendly Association of Couronneries.
Claude Brunet is the one who founded this club more than fifty years ago. In the 1970s, no youth clubs existed in the neighborhood. Impossible to practice, before Claude decides to do things big and give young people the opportunity to play.
“Children were not allowed on the lawns. And beautiful lawns like that, there were several of them playing on them, with a ball… Then, after a while, the goalkeeper would come and take their ball from them. Me, I was going to get the ball and give it back to themr”, he says, smiling. “And that’s where I said to myself that we had to create a football club like that, the children could play peacefully.”
Claude Brunet was a player on one of the Poitiers teams. He decided to create a club in his Couronneries district.
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© Morgane Knoll – France Télévisions
Claude places a small ad in the press and from the first year, it is a success. “In order to give even more activity and animation to the ZUP, the creation of a football club is underway. we could read in the press. “And I gave my address. There was no Internet or cell phones, but very quickly, young people came to ring my doorbell..”
Among the first licensees, his grandson Tanguy. Thanks to his grandfather, he discovered refereeing and never stopped. “He introduced me to this vocation. Since the age of 13, I started refereeing and I just finished my twelfth season today. From now on, I play in the first division in the department.“
People watched the matches from their apartment windows.
Claude BrunetFounder of the ASAC and bearer of the Olympic flame in Montmorillon
The years go by and the number of licensees continues to increase. The club created by Claude Brunet even plans to found youth teams. An almost unexpected craze in the neighborhood. “In the early years of the club, people watched matches from their apartment windows. I remember the touchline was ten meters from the building.“
A family history, definitively marked in stone since November 2023. In the Couronneries district, a stadium now bears his name. “This shows recognition of the commitment to this neighborhood and that means a lot to me. It’s a small stadium, but it’s free, public and open to everyone, and that’s the most important thing.“
A stadium now bears the name of Claude Brunet.
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© Morgane Knoll – France Télévisions
Claude, however, did not hung up the crampons. Almost 80 years old, he comes every Wednesday to lend a hand to Nadia Stoury, the club’s co-president. Together, they are committed to transmitting values to young people. “With football, we do social, we do educational. Every Wednesday afternoon, we get homework help. We do this in partnership with schools of course and with the agreement of parents.“, explains Claude. “When you take a child, you take him for everything: for football, and for school“, adds Nadia Stoury.
Grandfather of the ASAC, he passed on the flame of football to dozens of generations. For the Olympic Games, it will be another flame that he will have to carry since he is one of the bearers of the Olympic flame, this Saturday, May 25, in Montmorillon.
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