This evening, the exhibition “If Jean Bouin told me”, dedicated to the history of the former Nîmes Olympique stadium, was inaugurated in Nîmes. In the process, the generation of Crocos vice-champion of France in 1971/1972 was honored at the town hall, 50 years to the day after this famous match against Marseille lost 3-1.
“He who through his passion and his writings has given us life”, this is how Michel Mézy, legend of Nîmes Olympique as a player from 1965 to 1975 and from 1977 to 1979 qualified Jean-Charles Roux. After three years of hard work, this Crocos enthusiast who runs the Facebook page “Rue Jean-Bouin” published a book last December entitled “The Jean-Bouin stadium, the golden age of Nîmes Olympique” with photos and anecdotes from this prosperous period in the history of the Nîmes club.
From a book, the author was able to create an exhibition, “If Jean-Bouin told me”, presented at the Jules-Salles gallery until April 4th. On display are collections of jerseys, press clippings, programmes, posters and a large mosaic of the teams that have trodden this mythical lawn and above all the photos from the Hervé Collignon collection. All the photos of this former journalist at Le Méridional were donated by his widow to the archives of Nîmes. This evening, it was time for the inauguration in the presence of many players who had known this former Nîmes enclosure that the club left in 1989 for the Costières stadium.
Patrick Cubaynes, Alain Espeisse, Kristen Nygaard, Jacky Vergnes, Daniel Sanlaville or Michel Mézy, to name a few, were present. After the discovery of this exhibition, all these beautiful people met at the town hall. Fifty years later, Mayor Jean-Paul Fournier wished to honor the generation of the 1971/1972 season which finished vice-champion of France in D1. If today, Nîmes Olympique is in the soft underbelly in the second division, five decades ago the club was fighting for the title of champion of France.
A necessarily moving tribute where Michel Mézy wished to have a thought for many missing figures including the presidents Jean Chiariny and Paul Calabro as well as Marcel Rouvière and Kader Firoud, the coach at the time. “The leaders of the young people were as important as the leaders of the pros”underlined the current adviser to the president of Montpellier, Laurent Nicollin, not forgetting to scratch in passing Rani Assaf, current president of Nîmes Olympique who removed the approval of the training center. “At that time, the people who had worn this scarlet tunic were known and recognized”engaged Michel Mézy when many former players criticize the former director of Free for lacking recognition vis-à-vis past glories.
Michel Mézy took the opportunity to recall that everything changed on March 25, 1972 when the title escaped the Crocos after a 3-1 defeat to Jean-Bouin against the Marseille rival: “As soon as we scored, the big hill collapsed. Maybe too much love, too much passion, but that stopped us. » The former midfielder paid tribute to this very special public that he appreciated so much: “It was a bullfighting public, very demanding, overexcited but so knowledgeable and “reboussier”, that it pushed us to surpass ourselves. » And it is with sobs in his voice that the one who wore the jersey of the France team 17 times concluded (see video below): “Whatever our paths, we are all brothers and first cousins because in our veins flows the blood of Jean-Bouin’s Nîmes Olympique”.
Corentin Corger
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