Emmanuel LANGELLIER, Media365: published on Sunday November 24, 2024 at 10:43 a.m.
Just 70 years old and suffering from a serious illness, Gervais Martel gave the fictitious kick-off of the Lens-OM match. A moment full of emotion.
On Saturday, Olympique de Marseille returned to victory by winning in Lens (3-1) at the end of a lively meeting. Before the meeting, emotion was high at the Stade Bollaert-Delélis. The former president of RC Lens, Gervais Martel, indeed gave the fictitious kick-off. The man who led the northern club between 1988 and 2012 then from 2013 to 2017 appeared particularly emotional three days after celebrating his 70th birthday. The eye was moist. The emotion was all the stronger as Martel suffers from a serious illness and has lost 17 kilos, which can be seen on his emaciated face.
Martel: “I thought I was going to find all my friends up there…”
Before seeing the Lensois pay tribute to him by all wearing a jersey flocked with his name, Gervais Martel spoke in La Voix du Nord about his illness. “I caught a annoying disease. Then I picked up a bug at the hospital. I couldn't eat anymore. I lost 17 kilos. I thought the scale was messing up… Now, I've already gained 6 kilos. This tells you if things are better. What I regretted the most was not being able to accompany my kids from “La Chance aux Enfants aux Jeux” (its association which helps disadvantaged children). I was in no condition. And I followed it on TV. It's part of life. At 70, you are never safe from catching some illnesses. It's true, I thought I was going to meet all my friends up there… They told me that I was still called up for the next meeting. So I went back down. I was still on the good scoresheet, not the one that goes to heaven,” explains the former Sang et Or boss.
Martel “puts things into perspective a lot”
Gervais Martel does not mention the word “cancer” “because there is cancer and cancer. But the message I want to send is that if I hadn't smoked so much, I would have been better, all the same…” The ex-leader also wants to “thank the people at the hospital , who were super nice. I stayed there three months. I want to tell the health workers that they have been exceptional. They are at the service of people, a vital service, in the truest sense of the word. » Martel also confides that he was not afraid. “People around me said they were scared. I put things into perspective. How many have been in my situation and not made it? When we see the tragedy that affected this family from Vimy, a week ago, with this mother and her two sons who lost their lives on the A26… Compared to this pain, it's a joke what happened to me. I put things into perspective a lot. » With Martel at its head, RC Lens was crowned Champion of France in 1998 and won the League Cup in 1999.
