Coupe de France / 6th round. Vauvert, Regional 2 club, hosts Nîmes Olympique (National) on Sunday October 29 at 3 p.m. Who better than the native René Girard could evoke this Gard derby?
As a player, René Girard only knew three clubs: FC Vauverdois, Nîmes Olympique and the Girondins de Bordeaux. The first two face each other this Sunday in the city where the former international midfielder (7 caps for the French team) grew up and still lives, almost 70 years after he was born there. He will celebrate them on April 4. “I am one of the last to be born here, in the family home,” he explains before talking about football.
Your first club which receives your second, this derby can be renamed the “Girardico”…
It’s funny ! In town, at Les Halles, people remind me of good memories. When I was young, I played a Coupe Gard-Lozère match in Vauvert with the D3 of Nîmes. But the Coupe de France in 1982, I don’t remember it, I was already in Bordeaux. It’s good for the public and for the Vauvert club. Young leaders are doing a good job there. For the area, it’s superb. This is the only time when amateurs and pros mix.
And you, how did you go from the amateur world to the professional world?
I started at Vauvert out of passion, and because my father was a DH footballer there. I remember educators like Mr. Teyssier at the college, and René Dupont, a former NO member, at the club. In 1968, we won the Mini Gard-Lozère Cup.
Nîmes made me dream. It was one of the biggest French clubs. I signed there that year, as a cadet, after being spotted by recruiter Marcel Rouvière. I played as an attacking midfielder. Besides, contrary to what some evil tongues say, I have always scored goals (smile), a good fifty as a professional while playing defensive midfielder!
Then, in 1980, at the age of 26, Nîmes was doing less well sportingly and needed money, Bez and Couécou wanted me at all costs in Bordeaux, and I left for the Girondins… but I had a lot of money. There were tears… But I didn’t regret it, and I won a lot of titles (3 L1 and 2 Cups).
While returning regularly to Vauvert…
Yes, that’s my homebody side. I had it built in 1978, I hardly had time to live there. Coming home for a month, a few days, in summer or winter, was essential to me. Like the bulls, it is something sacred among us. It’s my adrenaline. Today, I still live in this house.
Where are you officially retired, or not yet?
Yes, we can say that. After my last challenge at Paris FC (2020-2021), it was completely calm. I didn’t put myself out there too much either. And as foreign coaches are better than the French, apparently (smile)… It’s not easy to leave a world like ours. When we stop, it leaves a hole.
But today, I make my picholines, there are my grandchildren, friends, the bar des Halles, the raseteurs of whom I am a fervent supporter… I live without the pressure that I experienced during my career.
Could you have ended up coaching Nîmes?
I had a bite to eat with Rani Assaf and Christian Perdrier when they put Bernard Blaquart at the head of the team. It’s perhaps the best thing Assaf has done since he’s been there… They asked me how I saw the club and how to move it forward. There was never a sequel. Relationships are not bad, but distant.
I have never set foot in Antonins. I go to Montpellier, despite the rivalry, and I am welcomed there as I should be. The situation is worrying. I don’t know if Nîmes will come back, but we saw how far the club could go, already (sic).
The first objective must be to return to L2, to establish the club and to perpetuate it. As a coach, whatever the value and quality of your players, I believe in the osmosis that we can create between them. But without a training policy, against the big clubs, you fall short. And it’s all the more unfortunate as there is potential here.
Finally, who will your heart beat for this Sunday?
The whole point is that he doesn’t stop (laughs)! Come on, let’s say I’m fifty-fifty. There are four divisions apart, Nîmes must pass without incident, but be careful, because the strengths and values level out in the Cup. This is a historic moment for the Vauverdois. I hope they have a great match, and cause as many problems as possible for the Crocos. And I wish the people of Nîmes to go as far as possible!
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