Edie Scherer grew up in Still and in the Vosges, then he moved à Oberhaslach in the Bruche valley. Passionate about Football, his playing career was particularly short-lived. “For my first match, I played defender and I had to clear the ballsays the nonagenarian, delving with relish into his childhood memories. I kicked the dirt, not the ball. My career was over.”
The teenager therefore had no choice but to become a supporter. The Second World War had barely ended when his father took him to see a Racing match for the first time. in 1947.
A first goal that marks for life
“My best memory remains the first, he remembers, with a tear in his eye. An attacker Frédéric Woehl had scored a fantastic goal from 35-40 meters. A real firecracker. The ball had not hit the ground. These are memories that will last forever.”
Edie Scherer was only away from Racing and his Alsace for fifteen and a half years, the time of his military career: “It was difficult sometimes, but wherever I was, I followed the results of Racing. Even when I was in Algeria.”
Back in Alsace at the end of the 1960s, Edie Scherer began working as a representative for the Pferd tool company in Ernolsheim-sur-Bruche. And he quickly returns to the Meinau stadium.
More than the title of French champion of 1979 (“We celebrated in the bistros”), it is the glorious ancients who left their mark on it, Oscar Heisserer in mind. “He was an extraordinary captain, says Edie Scherer with nostalgia. These are people who have remained loyal to Racing. When we had a guy who stood out, we wanted to keep him forever. Football has changed. Nowadays, players leave quickly.”
An almost vital need to go to the stadium
Today, Edie Scherer feels a little lost in the timeshare era. He didn’t decide between those for and against Blue Co: “I don’t think anything bad about the Americans. If they pay, there’s no reason. If there are Americans, it’s because we Alsatians don’t want them or because we doesn’t have the money to do it. We’re focusing on youth, that’s good. Now, I think we should have kept one or the other pillar in the house. .”
Recent health concerns prevented the Oberhaslach resident from attending the matches against Nantes and Monaco. His last stay at Meinau dates back to a great evening of victory against OM. He will return this Sunday against Reims, for the fiftieth consecutive sold-out match for Racing at home in Ligue 1. And at 91 years old, he still lives the matches with enormous passion, alongside his grandson Timothée. Their ritual is always the same.
-“At Meinau, he’s a star”
“We arrive at the stadium two hours early to eat a pair of snacks, says Timothée who plays football in Molsheim. We sit in the stands to watch the end of the warm-up and off we go for the match. When he had these little problems recently, he couldn’t go and he wasn’t feeling well. He’s really a kid at that level. It’s a need for him, it keeps him going, it socializes him. At Meinau, he’s a star. There are several women from the village who are in the kop. They often come to see him in the stands. They gave him a jersey at the stadium for his 90th birthday. He is very well surrounded at Meinau.”
Luc Dreosto
When he talks about the atmosphere of the stadium, Edie Scherer eyes that sparkle : “I’m almost at kop height, so I experience the match with them. I get up when the players score a goal or when they do something well. I like football, that’s how it is.”
And almost nothing undermines his morale more than a defeat for Racing. “It really bothers me when he loses, the nonagenarian gets irritated. Yes, I like to see him win or at least not lose four or five matches in a row. Oh no, no, no, that’s rude. That’s not possible.”
Proud to be the oldest subscriber
Edie Scherer hopes to be able to follow her Racing for a few more years. When we told him that he was currently, according to club data, the oldest season ticket holder, he felt a pang of pride. “In a club like that, you’re in or you’re not, insists the former soldier. We can’t count on people who aren’t subscribers and who aren’t really loyal fans, who come on the day of a big match and then we don’t see them anymore. For a club like Racing, to have 18 or 19,000 subscribers, I think it’s good and I’m proud to be part of it.”
