For April 8th I'm going back 21 years to Paris FC's league game against FC Istres at the Stade des Freres Dejerine which isn't far from the Pere Lachaise Cemetery for those of you that know Paris.
How come I went to this game? Well, due to work, I lived just outside of Paris for two and a half years between 1998 and 2000 and went to the odd game (with permission) usually when my better half and the kids had gone back to England during the school holidays. This was one of those occasions.
Unlike England, France has only two levels of professional football, known as Ligues 1 and 2 with 20 clubs in each. Below that is the semi-professional Championnat National 1 (18 clubs). The featured game was a Championnat National 1 game at the third level of French football. The game finished 2-1 to Paris who scored the winner in the 90th minute. Sadly for Paris however they finished the season in 17th position and were relegated into the amateur game and regional football.
Paris FC were only formed in 1969 and, at the time of their formation were very well supported with over 20,000 supporter members. In 1970 they merged with Stade Saint Germain to form Paris Saint Germain (PSG). However, because the merged club played its home games outside of the city of Paris, the Mayor of Paris refused to support a club not based in Paris. An acrimonious split then occurred with the new Paris FC and reconstituted PSG going their separate ways. Paris FC were the club that retained a place in the top flight and PSG were effectively forced to start again at the third level and with all amateur players. The histories of the two clubs since then have gone in opposite directions. PSG now operate at Europe's top table and indeed reached the Champions League Final last season whereas Paris FC suffered a spell at amateur levels before more recently being promoted back to their current place in Ligue 2.
FC Istres are based on the south coast of France, not too far from the Italian border. They did manage to spend one season in Ligue 1 in 2004/5 but in 2015 were relegated to the seventh tier of French football for financial reasons. Today they have recovered slightly and now play in the fifth tier National 3.
This game attracted just 200 fans which simply serves to illustrate the strength and depth of the English Football pyramid. Clubs such as Leamington would expect to attract many more fans than this for a match at the sixth level of English football! Stade des Freres Dejerine still exists and is used by Paris FC's second string who operate in the fifth tier. Paris FC's first team now play in the modern 20,000 capacity Stade Sebastien Charlety. It's on my list to visit!
CRB Match No. 1179
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