While Brest supporters are gnashing their teeth at the idea of travelling to their rivals Guingamp to play in the Champions League, and conversely Guingamp supporters are reluctant to host Brest in their stadium, other rival clubs have already been there in the past. In the 2000s, Lille did not have a stadium capable of hosting its European Cup matches since the Pierre-Mauroy stadium did not yet exist.
The only solution: relocate. Thus, the Dogues had “hosted” the Champions League at the Stade de France during the 2005-2006 campaign, due to the lack of an agreement to invest in the Bollaert stadium in Lens. But the latter, with a capacity of 41,000 seats, had been used by Lille during the 2001-2002 and 2006-2007 seasons in the Champions League, which had sparked the anger of the Sang et Or supporters.
On the highway, graffiti saying “No to LOSC in Bollaert”
President of Lille from 2002 to 2016, Michel Seydoux 2016 remembers that “our team was disappointed not to host the matches in Lille, but also happy to go and see their team in the Champions League 35 minutes away. We were hand in hand with Gervais Martel (president of RC Lens for almost 30 years), assures the former Lille manager. Lens had welcomed us with a lot of solidarity. It was as if a friend from the region had had a fire at his house and we had to accommodate him.”
Among the Dogues supporters, this trip did not cause much of a stir. François, a long-time Lille fan, mainly remembers the excitement of discovering European matches with his favourite club. “Playing away was compensated by hearing the Champions League anthem. We knew that expansion work was impossible, whether at Grimonprez-Jooris or at the Villeneuve-d'Ascq Stadium. On the other hand, the Lensois were quite unhappy, we saw graffiti saying “No to LOSC in Bollaert” on the motorway. But overall, on site, everything went well.”
Lille and the image of the little one
Stéphane Carpentier, a journalist for the daily newspaper “La Voix du Nord”, recalls the time when Lens was seen, without equal, as the big northern team. “Before, Lille had the image of the small team. Lens was champion of France in 1998, played a UEFA Cup semi-final in 2000 against Arsenal. At the same time, Lille was struggling, they had a few years in the second division (from 1997 to 2000, editor's note) before returning to the forefront. Lens was untouchable”. However, in the mid-2000s, Lille went through a series of European qualifiers, intensifying the rivalry between the protagonists of the Derby du Nord. “It was different in 2006-2007, it was intensifying,” continues the journalist. I think that, for Losc, going to play at Bollaert would no longer be an option today. There is a sporting and economic rivalry between the two clubs that has been established.”
And which was exacerbated during the 2014-2015 season when Lens, excluded from its stadium due to work to prepare for Euro 2016, had looked for a fallback ground and approached Lille… who had refused “for practical and operational reasons”. Thus generating the wrath of Gervais Martel who had not received the return of the favor hoped for and had been forced to go and play his Ligue 1 matches with Lens in Amiens at the Stade de France.
Dumont: “We really had to get used to it”
But let's get back to the Lille adventure experienced at Bollaert. “Going to play there wasn't an easy thing because there was a rivalry with the team that was hosting us,” confirms Stéphane Dumont, a Lille player at the time. “There's nothing like playing in front of your own fans in your own stadium, but that year, we managed to get away with it: we got out of the group stage and played Manchester United in the last 16.” The famous match that saw Ryan Giggs beat Tony Sylva on a free kick without waiting for the referee to give the go. “For us, playing in Lens was a bit like Lyon going to Saint-Étienne, it was special, you really had to get used to it,” insists Dumont. “But once you're on the pitch, things happen, you take possession of the place and you can forget about it.” “We are not at home, but neither is the opponent. We manage to transpose ourselves in the end because the public is nevertheless devoted to your cause.”
