Football is, perhaps, one of the spaces where man knows how to be the most inventive. Take Martin. A good guy, contract teacher at UBO and total Zefs fan. Like many others, he checked the Prague box in the European Tour du Stat', this Wednesday, November 6, 2024, took the tickets, reserved a hotel. He had to leave Nantes and, like the others, he did not leave Nantes. “There were four of us and we thought about it” when evening came, with our noses in the water, not far from the Nantes tarmac. Ten hours later, the four gas workers were in Brussels, the car stored with the Belgians, on a plane flying to Prague. Not much sleep but whatever. “Arriving in Prague, we wondered if we would head to the hotel for a shower and sleep a little, or if we would stop for a beer.” A dilemma quickly resolved.
The four friends are natives of Cléder and surrounding areas, two work in Nantes, one in Rennes and one in Brest. But they have the same jersey, the one which is still on display massively this Thursday, November 7 near the Charles Bridge in Prague, especially towards “Old Town Square”, an occasional rallying point for the ZEF supporter, which still continues. “There are bars and restaurants all around. That's where we left on Wednesday evening, some had taken cans. It must be said that you have to walk a little and it goes uphill. Dehydration is never far away.” After ? Afterwards, these are memories that will make your hair stand at attention, if we except the entrance to the stadium, “where I was more massaged than felt. It was a funny experience.” In the bazaar of memory which follows the unique experience in the Czech capital, the “explosion” after Fernandes' goal, the feeling “that only us were heard in this stadium”, the other of “seeing the 'team walking on water' and 'the minute of anguish after Sparta's goal'.
Communion within oneself
Above all, Martin experienced what the ordinary viewer can barely imagine. “Half an hour of total communion time. The players were in front of us, the staff in another part of the stadium and there was singing everywhere. The atmosphere was absolutely delirious, we were like a unit,” he said the day after the Stat’ victory. It didn't drop on the way back, in this town which has a tradition of serving the pint in a liter version for around a fiver. And once on the dedicated square, red, white, red and white, everywhere, all the time. “There were no incidents. It must be said that the Czechs we met were Slavia supporters. They were especially happy with Sparta’s defeat.”
Half an hour of total communion time. The players were in front of us, the staff in another part of the stadium and there was singing everywhere.
Damn karma
For Martin and his friends, the party didn't last long. The body has its reasons that reason is not unaware of, like that of the previous sleepless night in a car between Nantes and Brussels. At 2 a.m., the little guy gave up, telling himself that he would stay in Prague for a handful of days with his friends. Before returning to Brussels to pick up the car. Karma involves certain sacrifices.
