On December 12, 2020, Gaël Angoula put on his crampons to tread the lawn of the Licorne stadium, as central referee of the match between Amiens and Chambly. ” It was my last game of the year ”, smiles the man in black, happy to have toured the football stadiums of France in the space of a few months.
At 38, the former Franco-Cameroonian defender of Bastia, Angers and Nîmes has embarked on an astonishing reconversion. Before him, no former footballer had come so close to becoming a professional referee. Used to Ligue 2 and National matches (the equivalent of the 3e division), he puts all his enthusiasm to find the elite of French football, which he knew as a player in Bastia – where he faced with panache glorious opponents like Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG). But this time with a whistle in his mouth.
However, nothing predestined this amateur of Thai boxing, condemned at the end of adolescence to a prison sentence, to marry such a fate. As he retraces the thread of his winding journey, his feelings are dominated by disbelief: “I never dreamed of being a professional footballer when I was younger. And I would never have seen myself in the shoes of a referee ”, remembers the one who benefited from an accelerated training circuit set up by the French Football Federation (FFF).
A tormented adolescence
Gaël Angoula dwells as little as possible on the circumstances or on the bad influences that tipped him to the wrong side, sending him for almost a year in detention: “At that time, I didn’t need much to drift. I come from an environment – living in an HLM – where temptations were increased tenfold ”, sighs this son of a manager working for the town of Le Havre and a mother accountant for a supermarket. His parents have always made sure that their children lack nothing, he emphasizes. “They had modest incomes, but as a child you don’t notice these things. Every time I started school, I had new clothes. “
Rather good student, he often put himself in uncomfortable situations, until the exams of the French baccalaureate that he is forced to pass behind bars. Memory “To be ashamed” to his parents, who “Grazed the walls in the neighborhood”, it is still hardly bearable.
A young contract as the first trigger
More than his stay in prison, he prefers to remember the day of his release, which he owes to ” outstretched hand “ by educators from his neighborhood. Which approached Jacky Collinet, leader of the Bois-Guillaume club, on the outskirts of Rouen, who had just gone up to CFA. Sport opened up a path to redemption for him. That of emancipation as well. Under judicial supervision, he joined the club by signing a young job.
“It was my real entry into social life, he recounts. I was going to work in the morning, pick up the trash, lay out the pitches, set up the corner posts before the games, take care of the kids on Wednesdays. At the same time, I was training with the first team. “
He gradually gains his place of holder until a suspension “18 games for breaking the leg of a Red Star player”. He made a try at AJ Auxerre, who was playing in the first division at the time. “The test was inconclusive, probably because of my suspension. But, I didn’t feel ridiculous. That’s when I told myself that the highest level was possible. I have never been a phenomenon. I made up for my technical shortcomings with envy. “
He will succeed in breaking through late, like his brother Aldo, now sports director of Châteauroux. In total, he will have played 64 Ligue 1 games. “Pride”. “I won through the meetings, he sums up. If I hadn’t had the chance to have my hand extended, what choice would have been offered to me, other than recidivism? “
Today, on the pitch, he adopts a sober attitude as referee, seeking the decision “Firm but fair”. His experience as a player in Bastia between 2010 and 2013, forged a solid shell for him. He remembers the overheated atmosphere of Furiani, the explosive behavior of his teammates, who had no other goals than “To set the match on fire and put pressure on the referee”. Phlegmatic, he bothered himself as little as possible with words to justify his decisions to the players. “A bit like a policeman”, this father of three loves to enforce the rules, aware, more than anyone else, that “Without a referee, there can be no match”.
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Advice from an arbitrator
“Until my last year as a player in Nîmes, I had never looked into refereeing. My meeting with Nicolas Rainville, a licensed referee at the club, sparked my interest in this role. In the weight room, as he was getting ready on the side, I started chatting with him. I didn’t know that the referees were graded, how much they were paid, that they underwent physical preparations. I got caught up in the game. In 2017, I chose to hang up my crampons when I had two years of contract with Nîmes. I sat on a nice pay. But I wanted to go fast to give meaning to my life after. I was reaching my 35th birthday and it was necessary to have a maximum of 34 when I submitted my application. “
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