Several fans of the Pailladins thought they wouldn’t be able to attend the match. One of them shares their experience of this special Sunday.
« I am no longer even angry, but disillusioned. » Jules, also known as « Paic » on social media, was not on his first trip for a MHSC match on Sunday. However, he will not keep a good memory of this early afternoon, « stuck on an empty field » with a hundred other fans who thought they would never attend the game.
« I cannot reword »
Familles, enfants
Réglementé par un arrêté d’encadrement de la préfecture du Bas-Rhin, ce déplacement des plus fervents Pailladins devait passer par la case “escorte policière”. Problème, parvenus le matin en Alsace, ceux-ci arguent avoir dû laisser leur chauffeur prendre sa pause réglementaire.
« Il ne revenait pas, donc ils ont décidé de se rendre eux-mêmes au stade en tram », déclare Jules. Leur absence lors du rendez-vous avec l’escorte sur une aire d’autoroute aurait provoqué le blocage ultérieur décidé par la préfecture.
« On the parking lot, we were all there, calmly held between two lines of riot police. There were families, young children, » describes the supporter. Under the sun, the hundred individuals wait patiently. « Fortunately, the Strasbourg club provided us with water. »
The prefecture must have been scared.
As time went by, « some of the hardcore fans wanted to leave because we were told that we wouldn’t be able to attend the match. They climbed onto the railway track next to the parking lot. The prefecture must have been scared. »
At 2:50 PM, the authorities allow entry. The first Montpellier supporters join their stand. The match has started, the Strasbourg fans in the stands sing « Freedom for the ultras ». « I arrived in the away section, it was the 8th minute, some arrived at the 20th. Even though we were there over an hour before kick-off… », Jules whispers, « not even surprised anymore » by the orders and measures that he compares to « easy solutions, restrictions of freedom ».
« Unfortunately, I have come to realize that there can be such craziness while traveling. But I will be in Lorient in fifteen days. »
