Sick or disabled children participate in Escape Day, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), April 24, 2024. GABRIELLE CEZARD/SIPA
The spring sun warms the bodies of the teenagers who run along the Briqueterie stadium, in Bagnolet (Seine-Saint-Denis). The complex, which welcomes middle and high school students whose establishments are located nearby, will be destroyed, then rebuilt in May 2025. The sports facility dating from the 1970s has become obsolete. In the gymnastics room, as in the wrestling room, the ceiling is collapsing, the walls are crumbling. Trash cans have been placed near the windows. “ Not for garbage, but to collect rainwater », peste Serge Reitchess.
This former physical education and sports (PE) teacher shows the place around. “This stadium is an example of the state of sports facilities found throughout the department. I played sports there myself… and it hasn’t changed », notes the retiree. A report conducted by the regional and interdepartmental directorate for equipment and development of Ile-de-France in 2019 highlighted that 53% of departmental sports equipment was put into service or renovated before 1994.
On the scale of the department, the poorest and youngest in mainland France, in addition to the poor state of the installations, it is above all their low number which is denounced. In 2018, the national average was almost 50 sports facilities per 10,000 inhabitants, but their number dropped to 15 in Seine-Saint-Denis, the lowest rate in mainland France (excluding Paris). And this has consequences: a lack of time slots and the impossibility, for everyone, of practicing a varied sporting activity.
A bitter observation
National education, presented by the public authorities as one of the entry points into sport, is directly confronted with these problems. “When we see the state of sports facilities in the department, we should not be surprised that young people do not want to get involved in school sportrelates Serge Reitchess bitterly. However, this same department is preparing to host the world’s largest sporting competition.”with the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP).
From July 26 to September 8, athletes from nine Olympic and four Paralympic disciplines will compete in Seine-Saint-Denis. On this occasion, the Ministry of Sports and Olympic and Paralympic Games, which proclaimed the practice of sport « grande cause 2024 », ensured that the legacy of the Games would benefit locals.
The ministry argues that the Ile-de-France department concentrates 80% of public investments, or three billion euros, including the construction of the Olympic aquatic center in Saint-Denis, and the renovations of sports equipment, such as the gymnasium. Pablo-Neruda, in Saint-Ouen, or the Grande Nef de l’île des Vannes, in L’Ile-Saint-Denis. The ministry also welcomes the creation or renovation, thanks to the Games, of seven swimming pools in several municipalities.
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2024-05-15 11:00:09
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