According to Franck Poret, currently, “out of 300 sites, more than 81% of them are impassable, including around twenty completely underwater.”
The 7th round of the French Football Cup ended on Sunday November 19, 2023, with the entry of Ligue 2 clubs into the competition. A complex 7th round to be organized in the departments affected by recent bad weather, such as in Pas-de-Calais, heavily hit by flooding. In this department, many football fields are completely impassable, reports on franceinfo, in the program “Club Info”, Franck Poret, president of the Côte d’Opale district, one of the two districts of Pas-de-Calais.
franceinfo. After these very severe bad weather, how many lands are flooded in the Côte d’Opale district?
Franck Poret. The situation, as I speak to you because the flood has begun, is as follows: out of 300 sites, more than 81% of them are impassable, including around twenty completely under water. We have already planned to move the matches of these teams to outdoor fields, which would possibly be playable at the start of the year. There are 190 clubs in the Côte d’Opale district, and two districts in Pas-de-Calais: the Artois district, which is more inland, was not affected by bad weather. And the Côte d’Opale district, which goes from Le Touquet to above Calais, and there we were badly affected by the floods.
At the district level, what are you doing to help these 190 clubs?
I questioned the clubs to find out what their equipment needs were, because you should know that many clubs have lost everything. I also appealed to my fellow district presidents in France, for help with small materials: jerseys, socks, cups [ndlr : plots pour l’entraînement], well everything that can go with it. We have blocked the monthly debits of arbitration fees for the clubs, since we do not play and we have no income. Many clubs will not have any income for a long time. I hope for a recovery at the start of the year, but we are always subject to bad weather. I have pledges of donations from around ten districts already, out of 90 existing. It will happen, but what I already want is to restore the morale of my club presidents, who are tested.
It will be necessary to rebuild everything on these waterlogged fields, but football is not the priority during floods like these. When do you expect a return to normal, at best?
At best, I think, for the end of January-beginning of February. Socially, it’s important to be able to play football again, because you take your mind off things by participating in a football match. There are the leaders, the public, we think of something else. But today there are more serious situations, with cities, villages flooded, people have lost everything. No one has died in football, but somewhere, pro rata, football has lost just as much, it’s very disabling. We are really waiting for the visit of the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire tomorrow in Pas-de-Calais, because many clubs have lost everything. These are equipment that belong to municipalities or cities, they are insured, but the insurance companies never pay for all the damage. Certain objects have no value for insurance, but they do for football: for example, cups, small equipment. We need it too.