New weekend without regional championship matches. The Normandy Football League and the five Normandy districts have decided to postpone the matches. Resumption scheduled for Friday, January 28. But this recovery will take place without refreshments: on Thursday, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced a reduction in health measures, such as the removal of gauges in stadiums from February 2. But the consumption of food and drink remains prohibited until mid-February. That means no snack bars. Even if they are aware of the health situation, this measure, the small countryside clubs of the department have difficulty digesting it.
Because the bar is first a place of conviviality. “We come for coffee before the game. And then after the game, we redo the game over a beer. But beyond football, we get together, we talk about life.”, explains Pascal Lecoutour, president of UC Bricquebec Football. “In the small villages, the match, it’s the Sunday outing. We have elders who are very attached to that”, specifies Jérôme Dupouvoir, president of AS Nègreville, whose pennant team is in the fourth departmental division.
Small clubs that toast
With the contributions, the refreshment bar is especially vital for the finances of the small clubs. “We can not do without”, reacts Monique Saillard, president of FC Val de Saire. “For associations like us, it represents 45 to 60% of our revenue”, sums up the Negrevillais leader. So much so that he even wonders about the survival of his club at the end of the season. “We have to bear a loan of 2,500 euros per year. We repay 250 euros per month. The bar allows us to fill this borrowed part. How do you want to continue to support this family club, repay this loan and all without the receipts from the refreshment bar? I do not see”, he laments. Especially since expenses have increased with the health crisis, with hydroalcoholic gel and disinfectants.
A few kilometers away, in Bretteville-en-Saire, President Patrick Mariette describes a “complicated situation”. “On average, during a match, we make 150 euros in profit thanks to the bar. This is not negligible”. When subsidies are reduced and become more and more difficult to obtain, and that it is impossible to organize events to get money into club coffers. “The family tournament, the Valentine’s Day meal, belote… can’t take place. That’s all that allows us to live”, regrets Patrick Mariette. “We are lucky to have _partners who provide us with equipment_, I thank them warmly, but it’s not hard and fast that happens”, confides Jérôme Dupouvoir. Small clubs which should therefore return to their habits from February 16, according to the calendar presented by the government.