“Never give up. Always encourage. Go Versailles, go! “This Tuesday afternoon, May 2 (6:30 p.m.), around forty FC Versailles Ultras supporters will shout loudly by multiplying the decibels to encourage their team (5th), which faces Red Star (4th), in a match of the 31st day of National capital in the fight for the rise in Ligue 2.
A meeting exceptionally relocated to the Michel-Hidalgo stadium in Saint-Gratien due to the unavailability of the Jean-Bouin stadium, home of the rugby players of the Stade Français but also of the Yvelines training this season. The enclosure of the Entente Sannois-Saint-Gratien was subject to a gauge of 1000 spectators for security reasons, including only 200 Red Star supporters, when they could have been ten to fifteen times more numerous.
“Historical” fans far from Jean-Bouin
The Versailles supporters will therefore be able to make themselves heard a little more than if the meeting had taken place at the Jean-Bouin stadium. Promoted to National, the ambitious Yvelines club is struggling to create popular momentum, even if this situation is rather logical. In the space of two years, FC Versailles has, in fact, gone from an anonymous amateur club of the N2 to a candidate for the rise in Ligue 2. And the regular spectators of the Montbauron stadium (not approved for the National) struggle to get around the 16th arrondissement to attend a match of their favourites, sometimes on Mondays at the end of the afternoon.
Despite a history of the highest level close to nothing and difficulties in traveling to Paris for home games, the Kop du Roy, created last season at the time of the formidable course in the Coupe de France (semi-final lost 2- 0 in Nice), attracts several young people from Yvelines including Benjamin, 23, who works in finance.
“It’s frustrating to play 20 km from Versailles when at the Montbauron stadium we could bring together 2,000 to 3,000 people at each match (the average is a tiny thousand in Jean-Bouin). The supporters cannot always move, in particular because of the schedules, he says. We want to create a popular momentum. The Jean-Bouin stadium is emblematic but we would prefer to play in a cauldron. People come to see FC Versailles out of curiosity but they are only passing through. We would like to be much more. When we aim for L2, the supporters and the city have to follow. In the event of accession to L2, we especially hope not to be relocated to Le Mans or Lille, otherwise there will be no one. »
“The Rino Della Negra stand imposes itself with its songs and its tifos”
FC Versailles is sensitive to attracting and retaining an audience around its team. “It takes time. As soon as I arrived at the club, I met the members of Kop du Roy. We try to accompany them with aid for equipment such as a drum or tarpaulins, indicates Alexandra Malaury Bayo, the communication manager of FC Versailles. We are already thinking about next season to improve things with perhaps creating subscriptions and offering benefits to those who wish to be part of a kop like Roy’s. It was a test season to see what works. We want not to lose supporters and try to win others. “We all know that supporters are important in the life of a club. I know we can count on them,” said coach Cris.
This Tuesday at the end of the afternoon, in a meeting where the loser will see his chances of going up reduced to nothing (the loser will then be five points behind on the first two to three days from the end), the public will have their role 12th man to play. Thiago, the capo (leader of a group of supporters at the Ultras) of Kop du Roy will give voice for 90 minutes.
“I sometimes came to the stadium when the team played in N2, but the course in the Coupe de France and my interest in the Ultras movement were a trigger, explains this teenager aged… 15 years old. For the moment, we are a kop under construction. We use songs known in the Ultra movement. We would like to write about it but there are not enough of us. I am a big fan of the Rino Della Negra grandstand (that of the Red Star Ultras) who imposes by his songs and his tifos. I’m afraid we’ll get eaten up on the atmosphere. On the ground, the confrontation is announced, it very undecided.
