“We live in an age where it’s a bit bad to be against France, and that’s good!”

France face England tonight for a place in the World Cup semi-finals in Qatar. And it cannot be said that it raises the crowds in Corsica. We tried to count the points between the pros and the anti-French, in a match that has been moving on the political field for some time.

Should we boycott the FIFA World Cup in Qatar or not? Last month the country’s elected representatives, from the mayor of the smallest municipality to members of the government, brawled and took sides on the issue. On the side of the island’s political class, instead, radio silence.

On the island, the question of the fan-zones, that of the giant screens in the town square, or even the more thorny question of the electoral weight of the susceptibility of French fans to human rights and global warming are not exactly on the agenda. And for good reason. Anyone who sees a blue-white-red flag in front of a bar in Porto-Vecchio or a poster of M’Bappé in a shop in Corte deserves to win a Footix soft toy.

In Corsica, for many, the Blues are the Sporting Club of Bastia, and not Didier Deschamps’ men.

France has been in turmoil for a week. The media debate endlessly on the presumed weakness of the set pieces of the Italian eleven. At the local bar, we are concerned about Sterling’s return to the Three Lions. At the coffee machine we wonder if Hugo Lloris is really the weak point of the reigning world champions. This evening, at 20, Griezman and his family will face the English on the grass of the Al Bayt stadium, in Al Khor, in the north of Qatar.

In Bastia, a few hours after the kick-off, the enthusiasm is less palpable. Jean-Paul, 46, comes out of a tobacconist’s with a copy of the newspaper L’Equipe under his arm. He will watch the game, “obviously”, and it’s for the French team. But he will watch it at home, with his family. “I didn’t know there were places that broadcast this”he says, with a dubious pout, before walking back to his car.

Everyone was Romanian… And for the next match, of course, everyone was Albanian.

Sébastien, France fan

In various establishments in the city center, however, plasma screens, hung on the wall, broadcast the matches of the 2022 World Cup. But there is no communication around the matches of Griezmann and his companions. “We broadcast Japan or Costa Rica matches as much as France”specifies Eric, waiter, with a knowing smile. “And people come to see what they want”. After a pause, the 30-year-old admits: “Well, that’s right, in the summer we put the tv outside, and sometimes we hang a little blue-white-red garland. But it’s for tourists”.

Sébastien is not a tourist. He was born in Bastia, 26 years ago. Which doesn’t stop him from being a fan of France. And this hostility that doesn’t say his name frankly irritates him. “I often go to see France matches outside with friends. But if we score goals, I don’t get up screaming with joy. You never know who’s next to the table, and certain looks don’t lie. I remember the first Euro 2016 group match. France-Romania. We were in a bar in the Old Port, and there were two of us for France. Well, three, with the boss, luckily!” Sebastian laughs. “Everyone was Romanian… And for the next match, of course, everyone was Albanian”.

When asked if he wears his blue shirt during World Cup matches, Sébastien shrugs: “Not for now. If we get to the final, I’ll put it on. But on my sofa. It’s just football. I assume my tastes, but I’m not going to fight.”

Léa is from Toulon. She and she has been a student at Bastia since the beginning of the year. “I immediately understood that it was different here. Even before the World Cup. Just look at the writing on the walls”. On November 22 he had the proof. Didier Deschamps’ men begin their competition against Australia, and the little girl, with two friends, goes out into the city, with the tricolor painted on her cheek. “I knew straight away that he wasn’t very smart. I didn’t even go to the bar”.

Adrien, one of her companions, finds her at the end of Boulevard Paoli. He is also a supporter “well, not really. For big matches anyway…”, and is amazed by the general mood. “Frankly, one gets the impression of not being in France. It’s not like we were threatened or prevented from wearing a jersey. I think most people don’t care. But it’s strange. When no one around us seems interested in the World Cup, it gets a bit cold…”

At the Bastia exit, in the heart of the commercial area, there is a national brand dedicated to sport. To all sports. And in general, during big competitions such as the World Cup or the European Championships, the turnover explodes. When the French are at stake. However, we walk for long minutes on the shelves, between bikes and squash rackets, without noticing the minimal jersey of the French team.

We have no requests for a French team jersey. Zero!

Bruno Testa, sports shop manager

“It’s normal, it’s not there, informs us Bruno Testa, the director. Zero. As for the last Euro. And the World Cup first. And for good reason, we have no question. Go, if, perhaps, one or two, during the summer, for the tourists”.

It’s still, admits, they try to impose them on us. We are constantly arguing with the centrals. We don’t want it!, we repeat to them. Donate them to shops that need them on the mainland. They sell it by the pallet!”.

At the back of the supermarket, at the corner of a department, you can see some T-shirts with the tricolor rooster. Drown in the middle of an impressive stock of equipment with the colors of the Squadra Corsa. “At first I fought to impose it. They didn’t want it. And in two years we multiplied the orders by six!”

Pierre will never wear a flocked tricolor jersey called Giroud. Not even Zidane, or Platini. Like many islanders, he is first for Italy. This year she didn’t qualify, but he continues to watch the competition with interest. He doesn’t wait for a team to win. He just wants the Blues to lose. “I’m for any team that can beat them. And humiliate them if possible”. He clearly shows his belonging to the nationalist movement, and he doesn’t even understand that one can support France, when one is Corsica.

Andria, sitting at her table, doesn’t say a word. When asked if she is waiting, as elected nationalists regularly ask, for the Corsican team to participate in the playoffs, to try to participate in the World Cup, she smiles crookedly: “Nobody believes it. It will never happen. But that doesn’t stop you from supporting your country’s team and that’s it. Even just for the gala matches.”

It’s like in Italy, when a Milan fan sees Juve reach the Champions League final, he wishes them defeat. He wishes her the worst! We are equal.

The two youngsters acknowledge that they wouldn’t want France fans to invite themselves to “their” bar, but that “would do nothing”. But the look they exchange seems to say that they are not entirely convinced.

Marcu Maria is also an unconditional supporter of Italy. Yet, in 2018, he headed to Croatia to watch the final that France were playing against the Croatian team. “Above all, I didn’t want to be in Corsica when perhaps France’s victory at the World Cup would have been celebrated. I didn’t want to experience it here.”

However, she remembers him more as a dirty schoolboy than a political activist.

“There are more people who are against France than when I was young, we live in an age where it’s a little too bad to be against France, and so much the better, but above all it was fun, it was a whim. And then we’re ready to leave at any moment! We don’t recognize France as our country, that’s for sure. But in the end, it’s football, who cares. It’s more epidermal than political. It’s a bit like in Italy, when a Milan fan he sees Juve reach the Champions League final, he wishes them defeat. Wishes them the worst! We are the same.”

Not everyone is so moderate. In 2018, the path of the French during the World Cup in Russia is dotted with clashes and altercations on the island. Unsurprisingly, after the final on 15 July, tensions escalated a notch.

While Didier Deschamps and his family were winning 4-2 against Croatia, the demonstrations of joy in the streets of Bastia or Ajaccio turned into brawls, as Didier Rey recalled, in an article published in 2019 in an Italian historic magazine, Countries and Regions: “Several incidents of an anti-French nature have been recorded: insults (“French shit!”), scuffles with tourists accused of expressing their joy too loudly and even some motorists displaying French flags reprimanded. A French flag is set on fire Place Saint -Nicolas Already, the week before the match, tourists had been scolded on a beach in Bastia for expressing their support for the French team.

Reached by telephone, Didier Rey hastens to complete: “After more than half a century of complicated relations between Corsica and the Continent, supporting the French team is no longer right.

But it seems to me that some people in Corsica, feeling – rightly or wrongly – in a minority situation within the island society, especially since the end of 2015, invest too much their attachment to the French team. This, clearly, in opposition to Corsican nationalism”.

Sporting motivations are not currently the main motivations of the players.

Didier Rey concludes: “in this configuration, the demonstrations of joy on the streets of the island – even, one can assume, by continental tourists – take on a completely different meaning. The celebration is all the more conspicuous as the sporting reasons are not the main motivations of the actors of the moment”.

Apparently, it’s not only in Qatar that the World Cup has political interests…