Tomorrow, Monday October 28, is the Ballon d’Or award in Paris, and this evening at 8:45 p.m., there is the classic OM-PSG. Two events that football fans normally don’t miss for anything in the world. But this year, there isn’t much suspense. Decryption with sociologist Jean Viard.
Article written by franceinfo – Mathilde Romagnan
Radio France
Published on 10/27/2024 12:49
Reading time: 5min
Between the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris tomorrow, and this evening at 8:45 p.m., the classic OM-PSG, some thoughts on football and on the supporters. (Illustration) (PHOTO AND CO / THE IMAGE BANK RF / GETTY IMAGES)
With the sociologist Jean Viard, we discuss the presentation of the Ballon d’Or tomorrow in Paris and this evening at 8:45 p.m., there is the classic OM-PSG with this year, not much suspense, for the winner of the Ballon d’Or and Ligue1 is now broadcast on two pay channels; three even, if we also want to watch the Champions League. Enough to ask questions.
franceinfo: Is football still a dream?
Jean Viard: Listen, I think so, but TV is in the process of tripping over itself, if I may allow myself to have a very personal opinion. When you look at the number of people going to stadiums, there are more and more in recent years. If you look at the number of licensees, it increased by almost 9% last year, to more than 2.3 million, without counting all the matches that we never count, between two villages, in a community of communes, There are a lot of small matches.
And there is 5% of the money given by the TV stations which goes into the coffers of all the sports clubs in France, that’s 80 million per year, roughly. So it’s important because when TV gives less money to the big clubs, at the limit in the small club in my village, they have 1000 euros less, but for them it was a lot, so there is a effect on all amateur sport.
Obviously, the year following the Olympics, it doesn’t go well, because on the contrary, there is an increase in demand, an increase in registrations, because the sport has been so magnified, so highlighted. before, and including so ethical, that in a certain way, indeed, there is an increase in demand and a reduction in budgets, it’s complicated.
Money Jean Viard, cThis is the crux of the matter. We have the impression that football is a sport which is increasingly governed by financial issues rather than sporting issues, has business taken over?
It’s clear that it plays a big role, it plays a role in transfers, it plays in the fact that very rich countries are in the process of buying players. I am thinking of certain Gulf countries, so there too, we have all this development. Does this shock people? I’m not sure. I think we accept the idea that a great show is like a great singer putting on a show that can also be extremely expensive. If we are given a lot of joy, I believe we accept it.
There are other controversies recently, that of homophobic chants among PSG supporters. Obviously, these supporters are a minority, but they exist, and they tarnish the image of football?
Yes, and I find on the one hand that it is dramatic, and on the other hand that it is often a problem of club organization. Because, in Marseille, there had been problems like that during Tapie’s time, and he had taken the issue into his own hands very well, precisely by working with the supporter groups.
A large part of the public is structured in a stadium, and therefore in a certain way, the work that is done with the clubs, the means that we give them to operate, the fact that we exclude people who have songs racist, etc. There is a real job to do because otherwise it is true that there are certain extremist political camps which use football – a form of fan violence that there is in football – they basically mix politics and football. There is a big job to do with the supporters.
After a month and a half of the Olympic Games, hasn’t the public also discovered other sports to turn their attention away from football?
No, football is, throughout the world, by definition, the popular sport, the democratic sport, it is a simple sport, easy to understand, which does not require large investments. And what’s more, it’s a sport where things happen, it happens quickly. So no, I don’t believe that it will be replaced, but on the other hand I think that the Olympics gave a feeling of calm, a feeling of something absolutely successful, and of great sporting beauty.
It’s a bit the same question for the bike. Look, we’re talking about doping issues again at the moment, etc. That’s still pretty poorly accepted. We are living in a period where we could try to have a form of moralization and simplification of things, that would do us all good…
