For a few hours, the controversy has only swelled. On Monday September 5, Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier held a press conference in which he joked, in reaction to the criticisms that followed the Paris-Nantes round trip made by plane by his team this weekend. end.
The technician declared with a big smile to consider future trips of the team to the capital in “yachting“, next to a hilarious Kylian Mbappé. Enough to throw oil on the fire. For Antoine Miche, president of the Football Ecology France association, which campaigns for an “ecological and united transition of football”, these reactions are the expression of a “disconnect” of the club with current issues.
franceinfo: sport: The reaction of Parisian coach Christophe Galtier, followed by Kylian Mbappé’s burst of laughter, gives the impression of a lack of ecological and climate awareness…
Antoine Miche: This reaction proves a real disconnect from the challenges of society and a huge gap in understanding reality. It’s quite damaging for them and for everyone, especially since they have a duty to set an example.
⚽️ PSG soon in sand yachting? #AllSport is already having fun imagining the players during a race on the French beaches. pic.twitter.com/szOIepPsl5
— francetvsport (@francetvsport) September 5, 2022
Maybe there will be a reaction, that PSG will try to work on the subject better and maybe even that the coach and Mbappé will be more invested afterwards, but there still has to be a catch. of consciousness. I think they have everything on hand for this awareness.
Today, is this the kind of reaction that no longer works?
Yes exactly, it’s like Karim Benzema’s video showing him this summer between private plane, jet-ski, and sports cars. People don’t want to see this kind of inappropriate behavior anymore. Everyone is asked to make an effort, and there are thousands of people who die or migrate every week, every month, because of climate change, while some do not take it into account in their daily lives.
However, everyone is affected. There has to be a real awareness very quickly and above all a move to action, because the more we create gaps, the more we will create tensions. And we know that tensions can lead to more radical approaches.
Especially with the inflation of the last few months, and the government’s request to the French for energy sobriety for this winter…
Yes it exacerbates everything. We are a bit in a “shaker”. In fact, footballers have not yet understood that, as we say in English, “No planet, no football”. If the planet is not viable, or the society is not stable, there will be no more football, because it is only a hobby. It’s not having a roof or eating.
There must be, beyond all this somewhat social tension, an awareness that for these professionals, in other words the actors of football in the broad sense, who are all concerned. That’s the saddest part, because their job is directly threatened by what’s happening, but they haven’t yet passed the threshold of awareness and taking action.
In this context of “disconnection”, how to make them aware of the climate emergency?
Unfortunately, this will go through moments of very strong tension like these last few days, which will push certain players to get involved when they have hitherto been comforting themselves in a withdrawal on this subject.
Faced with social pressure, and the real challenges that everyone experiences on a daily basis, everyone will have to act, and not just ordinary citizens. By that I mean the stars too, like at PSG. Moreover, they will increasingly have this duty to set an example in the context of the Paris 2024 Olympics. Sport is slowly waking up to the subject and realizing that it is an educational and action vector. on ecology.