EURO VIEW

Naming ceremonywhile many fans across Europe are fighting against the commercialisationof their clubs, supporters of one French team would currently welcome itBy GRAHAM ROBERTS

ff France

In France football grounds are often namedafter local politicians, once they have died. Thelatest team to go down this route are the 2orrDouble-winners Lille. Their ne\M 5o,ooo-seatstadium, built at an official cost of €3 z4 mil-lion (Ez66m), was known simply as ,,Le GrandStade" on its inauguration in August zorz. Itwas common knowledge,however, that this was tem-porary until a suitable cor-porate backer could befound. From the off, thefavourites were Partouche, a

local firm who o\Mn a chainof casinos and are also thecurrent team sponsor. So itwas to widespread surprisein |uly 2or3 that the sta-dium \Mas renamed Le StadePierre-Mauroy, in honour ofthe city's former mayor and

tille supporterspointed out thatwhile the locally

born Mauroy mayhave done a lot for

the cit]t he urasknown to havehated football

by Lille city council. According to that body,svice president, the name partouche Stadiumwas "not in keeping with the identity and val-ues ofthe region', although he made no attemptto suggest what those might be. Instead, Lille,sground was named after pierre Mauroy forfree. That the club are yet to make an offi-cial comment on the subject is a reflection ofthe fact that all French clubs depend on local

authorities for funding.Throughout Europ e

football clubs are increas-ingly disregarding fans'feelings in their search forlucrative corporate spon-sorship deals, know here as

"le naming". However, someFrench supporters nowsee business link-ups as ameans of narrowing the gapto Paris Saint-Germain andMonaco, whose recentlyacquired billionaire own-

France's ex-prime minister, who had died theprevious month.

Many Lille fans were furious. Some pointedout that while the locally born Mauroy mayhave done a lot for the city, he was known tohave hated football. worse still, he had actuallyblocked plans for the new stadium during histime as city council chairman in 2oor. Support-ers were especially angry to discover that theoffer of €2.5m per year over a ten-year periodfrom Partouche had been summarily rejected

ers give them a huge advantage; Nice for onegained considerable financial benefit fromtheir ne\M ground, inaugurated in September2or3 as the Allianz Riviera after the Germaninsurance giant. The problem for Lille is that inthe north of France most of the big companies,such as sports goods giants Decathlon and theretail group Auchan, are in the hands of a smallgroup of very wealthy families who have nodesire to associate themselves with somethingas "popular" (ie vulgar) as football.

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ËAboue Pierre Mauroy (front) ,,enjoying',

a matchLeft Prior to Lille's first game at their new stadium

Then again, as the journalist |oachim Bar-bier noted in his recent book The Country ThatDoesn't Like Football,inFrance the stadium playsafar less important role than in the IJK or Itaryin creating a club's identity. With the notableexceptions of PSG, Marseille, Saint-Étienneand Lens, French football grounds tend to lackatmosphere. One reason is that with the dis-tances between football cities being so greatand most games tending to start as late as gpm,

often only a handful of away fans turn up. Ear-lier in the season when Lille played Lorient - a

r 3-hour trip by road - I counted a total of nineaway supporters huddled together in the topcorner of the ground. As it is now theoreticalrypossible to watch every French Ligue r game onthe Qatari-owned satellite channel BeIN Sport,there is little appeal in travetling r,ooo milesor more to watch your team get trounced bythe likes of Reims or Evian, and then get backhome at 4am.

It's also true that virtually all professionalclubs in France rent their stadium from thecity council, for whom football is just one ofan increasingly wide range of income streams.In recent months Le Stade pierre-Mauroy hashosted a concert by Rihanna and a France vArgentina rugby match, as well as countlesscorporate team-building events in its manyseminar rooms. Forthcoming attractionsinclude the final of the French rugby unionchampionship in May and a two-day *Super-

cross motorbike show" in November. Lille,s sta-dium seats are not even painted in the club,scolour - red - something unthinkable at mostfootball grounds in the UK.

At least the stadium's new name has notstopped fans from attending;the club now havearound 3o,ooo season ticket holders. However,whiie happy to see their team currently occu-pying a Champions League qualifying spot,they are often less enamoured of the style ofplay - the players \Mere booed off after a recentr-o home victory against lowly Guingamp. g