Sports | Ligue 1 – Philippoteaux: “A resumption of the season? Amazing!”

When we contacted him, late yesterday morning, Romain Philippoteaux had just finished his stretching session at home, after a long 12-kilometer jog, in accordance with the program transmitted via WhatsApp by the physical trainer of the Nîmes Olympique. “We alternate jogging one day and muscular the next, before closing the week with a big jogging, details the offensive midfielder of the NW who is experiencing this period of confinement with his wife and their 3-year-old daughter in Nîmes, five minutes from La Bastide, the training center of the Crocos. I’m lucky to have a small garden for my bodybuilding sessions and I can go running all around my house, in the vineyards and the forest, but hey, after seven weeks, it starts to get long.“With no match or other deadline on the horizon.”This is how it is, we have no choice, You have to take your pain in patience and continue to prepare in case …“In case the resumption of collective training and the 2019-2020 season should be validated in the coming days, after a series of medical tests. A possibility that makes the Provencal player jump.”I can not believe it, he says. National authorities insist, but when we see the number of deaths per day and all the major events canceled until September, I do not see how we, in football, it may be possible to resume training in mid-May and the championship in June. Building such a plan, I find it mind-boggling! It’s too rushed. If we have to go, we will go, but I don’t feel like we’re really looking after the health of the players However, this is worrying, especially since the youngster from Montpellier, Junior Sambia is affected by the Covid-19. It shows that no one is untouchable with the coronavirus, of course.“

Philippoteaux projects itself on a hypothetical recovery and the inconsistencies that could abound. “We will meet at 30 in a locker room (during training), he recalls. Is that reasonable, knowing that each of us will then go home in the evening to our families and children? If we had been at the start of the season, I understand that a recovery could be justified. But there, three-quarters of the championship was played. You know, sometimes, it is better to draw a line under four weeks of competition to continue to take all the necessary precautions and freeze the current season, before properly starting the preparation at the end of June and the championship at the beginning of August, normal dates, which would also allow not to play behind closed doors, which is heresy. But we can see that at the top, everyone is thinking about the financial aspect. Not supporters or players.“Via the UNFP, the latter, however, had declared themselves in favor of stopping the season as it is.” We can clearly see that all the sanitary conditions are not met, because if that were the case, the Government would allow, for example, the public in stadiums, specifies Philippoteaux. In fact, we are breaking the rules for football, all for economic reasons. I am afraid for my health. If the season resumes, we will travel every three days and meet a lot of people on the trips. Even if we have masks, we are worried. “And even angry.
“When I hear someone like Pierre Ménès, who has been affected by the coronavirus in addition and who has escaped, say that “some Ligue 1 players are cheering”, it annoys me, laments the Croco. On the contrary, given its popularity and notoriety, it should rather hold an awareness speech. It’s comments like that that lead me to believe that there is a lot of hypocrisy around football; this is annoying.“

The annoyance of Romain Philippoteaux largely reflects the state of mind of the players. In terms of physical integrity, the possible recovery program also leaves the Vauclusien very wary. “Playing every three days is a rate that increases the risk of injury: six times more than usual. Doctors say it, he emphasizes again. Already that in normal times, we complain of a too high frequency of matches, then there, I do not tell you the carnage and with the hot weather, in addition!”
One parameter, in any case, will inevitably have to be taken into account: that of pre-competition preparation. “Normally, when we stop four weeks in the summer, we have four to six weeks of pre-season preparation, reminds Philippoteaux. However, there, considering that the national authorities are taken by time, one will only be entitled to three or four weeks maximum, because the resumption of the championship would be envisaged towards mid-June. Now, if you have to go play, it’s not a problem for me; I have known others, difficulties, in my life (*), but you must not do anything. In addition, we footballers are already not seen very well at the level of society; there, we will still pass for privileged people who have the right to go out, while other professions are not allowed to return to work.“

In favor of stopping the 2019-2020 season now, Romain Philippoteaux would like “the classification of Ligue 1 is frozen at the end of the 27th or the 28th day, even if I can understand that a club like Amiens (19th at 4 points from Nîmes) does not agree with this solution. But apart from him, I don’t see who could really feel wronged. Then, we would attack the summer preparation and the next season on the usual dates, if the sanitary situation allows it, of course.“Which is not guaranteed at all.

(*) Romain Philippoteaux passed professional late, at 24 years and 10 months, after having long developed as an amateur (Courthézon, Apt, Pernes, Le Pontet) while holding a job as a storekeeper. His journey is totally atypical.