the long day of UBB supporters

LHistory will never tell what would have happened on the “angry” United UBB bus in the event of a Bordeaux victory. Perhaps they would have found new anthems like the one dug up between Sète and Arles, the one which said “bring the shield back to the UBB”. Alas, at the stroke of 11 p.m., the Girondins had to leave empty-handed from the Stade-Vélodrome, in Marseille, in a one-sided Top 14 final, won viciously by the men from Stade Toulousain.

Yet they had some in the trunk, drums and dreams. Seventeen hours earlier, almost 500 UBB fans met in the parking lot of the Villenave-d’Ornon hypermarket, which was packed. Funny place for a rugby match. Funny trip too. Barely 6 a.m., the sun and faces still in a daze, eight buses set off towards Provence. Eleven hours of driving in 30 square meters with supporters looking for their first shield, excited like little fleas at the carpet festival.

Nightclub atmosphere

No alcohol, the instructions said. Mixed respect if we judge the “Hey guys, it’s a bus, it’s not a distillery!” », released at 7 a.m. already, by the driver of bus no. 1, Yves, for his last journey after thirty-five years of career. A finale before retirement. Discotheque atmosphere in the rear half of your vehicle, rather cozy and air-conditioned area in the front. The more the kilometers go by, the more the eyes light up and the hopes creep into the corner of the head. At a rest area near Castelnaudary, Julien, an employee of the postal sorting center in Cestas, even ventures a prediction: “A small 19-15” for his team in a closed match with “a big fight from the front”. Which was not wrong, at least during the first half.

“We have never organised such a trip”

During the journey, which was long due to endless traffic jams over the last 300 kilometres, there were old people who had already attended the Béglais victories in 1969 or 1991. But also, many young people, like young Louis, 16 years old. How did he join the group of supporters? “He came to see me in front of Chaban before a play-off match against Clermont to try to get a ticket,” says Nicolas, “CEO” of United UBB. It was during Covid, in 2021, there were no more tickets, it was sold out and then, by some miracle, a member withdrew, I offered him a ticket, he burst into tears…”

Scene of jubilation

Union Bordeaux-Bègles expands its audience and its aura. Illustration in Marseille. In “white with a touch of Bordeaux” – the color code of the day – the joyous troupe, left at the crack of dawn, arrived safely. Not the old man or in front of the Prado beach as was initially planned, but directly at the Vélodrome where they landed after having faced a new round of traffic jams and more than 35 °C. They left with less than 500 and, with great reinforcements, there were soon many more, perhaps 3,000, to come and cheer their players. An incredible scene of jubilation where the UBB bus made its way through smoke bombs and songs.

“Either way, whatever happens, we will have already risen among the very best.”

In front of the main entrance to the Marseille den, Fanny, 28, who came from Mérignac by car, gets carried away: “We can create a surprise, confuse them with our rear lines. In any case, whatever happens, we will have already risen to the very best. » At the players’ entrance, in the N, O or P blocks of the South turn, covered in white t-shirts, serpentines climb 12 meters high. The United planned things big. “We have never organized such a trip,” Nicolas, the president of the 350-member supporters group, told us a few hours earlier.

In a Vélodrome much more red than white, the rest was not easy (euphemism) for those having completed nearly 700 kilometers. The flags still continued to flutter. Light shows were attempted. “UBB, go, go, go!” » even resounded again as this final turned into a correction. Even if, undoubtedly, the heart was no longer really in it.