Toulouse Métropole FC, giant amateur football in the region which plays in the 6th division, qualified on Saturday, November 13 for the 64th finals. A historic journey and a great history for this club founded only five years ago.
With sparkling eyes and a smile on his face, Christian Ragout was a happy president on Saturday around 8 p.m. His Toulouse Métropole FC team had just eliminated Brive (1-0) and at the same time qualified for the 8th round of the Coupe de France. A first in the young history of the club founded in 2016 following the merger of two emblematic entities of amateur football in the Pink City: Toulouse St-Jo and Toulouse-Fontaines.
Former Saint-Jo, Christian Ragout has taken over the presidency of the TMFC since its creation. And if he confesses that the Coupe de France was not an objective at the start of the season, his reaction at the end of the meeting suggested the joy of the man. “I knew it would be tight, 50/50, but we earned it our qualifying”, he explains proudly showing his match ticket. This one is worth gold. “
“We have sold all the tickets”
In the club house which serves as a museum, we find the jerseys of the two historic clubs. The “red and black” of Saint-Jo rub shoulders with the “green and white” of the Fontaines. “We wanted to keep these colors on the club logo.” A red, green and black logo which some supporters had taken up the colors to put on make-up on Saturday evening. They were nearly 400 to crowd in the gallery of Pierre-Cahuzac. The best attendance of the season, without a doubt. “We sold all the available tickets”, details the president. The latter has also noted that, since the start of the season, the number of supporters present during the matches of his pennant team (in Regional 1, 6th division) had “In previous years, when there were 50 people in the stands, we were happy. There, since the beginning of the year, we have seen people we don’t know, there are around 200 on weekends for the first team. “
It must be said that the TMFC has gone beyond the simple “neighborhood club”. With nearly 800 players who have their license this year, the Argoulets club is according to its president the largest amateur football club in the region. A gigantic machine. With the invaluable help of his wife, the president devotes all his time to it, with training as an objective.
See you at the end of November
By discovering the scoresheet, Christian Ragout was also very satisfied. Four players trained at the club had been summoned by coach Olivier Hernandez to face the Corréziens. Thomas Larmé, Nabil Ben Brahim, Luka Ouedraogo and Samy Cherel are examples for the president. “You see, that’s my goal: to bring young people that we have trained up to the first team.” Saturday, it is also on a tumble of Nabil Ben Brahim that the match was released. The right winger went to cause the penalty of victory at the end of the match (88). “These kids who manage to make their place in the pennant team must make young people dream, make them realize that they can also do it.”
Young people precisely, many were in the stands to encourage “the big ones” before going down on the lawn to celebrate the victory of their heroes. All met in Pierre-Cahuzac, on November 27 or 28, for the 8th round. It will be against Montauban (see below) and TMFC players will have the opportunity to write the most beautiful page in their recent history.
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