After many adventures, the final of the Normandy Cup will be played this Saturday June 22, 2024 at the Venoix stadium in Caen between US Grammont and Évreux FC 27. The leaders of US Grammont have decided to boycott the match, AS La Selle la Forge appeals to the French Football Federation. A hell of an imbroglio.
It should be the celebration of amateur football. Instead, the Normandy Cup fuels resentment. This year, there are only unhappy people. “I’ve never experienced this, it’s really sad, I regret that it ends like this.” These are the words of the president of the Normandy football league, Pierre Leresteux.
The series, full of twists and turns, of the Normandy Cup is on everyone’s lips at the moment among amateur players and their supporters.
The final, which is to be played this Saturday June 22, 2024 at the Venoix stadium in Caen between US Grammont (Rouen) and Évreux FC 27, but one of the finalist clubs is pissed. The match must be played behind closed doors. The US Grammont management team sees this as discrimination. She decided to US Grammont to boycott the final.
“There will be 14 players but no manager will be there. Playing behind closed doors in Caen when we have done nothing is abnormal discrimination against local clubs. There was no invasion of the pitch , no aggression from players, referees, it’s incomprehensible”storm Benjamin Bance, the president of US Grammont.
A petition is underway with associations in the Rouen district. “We will put this matter in the hands of a lawyer”he continues.
For their part, the players of AS La Selle La Forge (Orne) feel cheated. They were unable to play their semi-final against US Grammont and were forfeited. The Ornais club appealed this decision. “And if we do not obtain satisfaction, we will contact the French Football Federation,” assures Maxime Rihouey, president of AS La Selle la Forge. Atmosphere…
But then what happened? How did we get to this point for a leisure sport? To understand everything, you have to rewind.
During a Cup quarter-final, a US Grammont supporter behaved badly and made insulting remarks towards an opposing player. “We paid a fine of 241 euros for these facts”assures Benjamin Bance. “There was a disciplinary file and this matter is closed,” confirms Kerstie Abergel, director of the Normandy football league.
But just before the semi-final which was to be played against AS La Selle La Forge in Grammont on June 9, numerous incitements to hatred and violence appeared on social networks.
“We had put in place a security protocol with the company that manages the security of FC Rouen and Quevilly Rouen Métropole but the prefecture preferred to cancel, indicating that the match was too sensitive and that the reception capacity was too small”underlines Benjamin Bance, who agrees to travel to Venoix Caen on June 12, with his supporters.
“I accept even if it’s a two-hour bus ride for us”he underlines, before reminding us that this match must be played. “We decided to finance one bus, the City of Rouen another, we found a compromise”adds Kerstie Abergel.
After this decision, in the evening, a vehicle fire took place in the Grammont district. The Calvados prefecture then classifies the match as risky and imposes the closed session. “We then try to find another solution, whispers Kerstie Abergel. La Petite Bouverie, near Rouen, agrees to host the semi-final under the initial conditions (with the supporters, Editor’s note) on Sunday June 16.”
Except that AS La Selle la Forge will not come to play the match… The Normandy football league assures that they refused to come fearing for their safety, so they were forfeited.
This is disputed by Maxime Rihouey, president of AS La Selle la Forge. “On June 13, we wrote to the league asking why no security protocol had been planned. On the 14th, we received a letter from the league informing us that the meeting was postponed and that the league would decide on the 18th. On the 18th, we learned that we did not travel to Rouen, and that we lost the match. We no longer understand anything.
The Ornais club then appealed the decision to forfeit. But the regional competition management commission rejected their appeal this Friday June 21, 2024 and confirms a final between US Grammont and Évreux FC 27.
“We really have the impression of being wronged. It’s Grammont who finds themselves in the final. The match must be played in Venoix behind closed doors, and that poses no problem for anyone. Whereas on June 12, it was impossibledeplores the Ornais president. The season was long. We were in R2, we are relegated to R3. The Cup was to end in style. We just want to play football. There, the players are starting to get a little fed up. “
However, he adds: “I have nothing against the Grammont club. Really nothing. We have nothing against a neighborhood club. We ourselves, at La Selle, are very close to Flers, and we also have our neighborhoods. We know what it is.”
US Grammont boycotts the final and cries discrimination against neighborhood clubs, AS La Selle la Forge will appeal to the French Football Federation because it was unable to play its semi-final. The Normandy football league is disappointed.
“The players have nothing to do with it, we penalize three clubs, it should have happened differently”, sighs the president of the league. This end of the season really ends in blood sausage.
