He could’ve said it wasn’t the place, not the time, but Olivier Dall’Oglio is not the type to run away from the microphones or to get out of his way. The MHSC coach, sensitive to social issues, therefore agreed to respond, this Friday, at a press conference, on the eve of his trip to Toulouse. And it’s one of the rare reactions in the middle, in the face of the scandals which shook the French Football Federation.
A few questions about the affairs that have been throwing France’s most popular sport into turmoil lately. Of the tearing of the Pogba family against a background of blackmail and maraboutage, through violent aggression and a possible settling of accounts between PSG and Les Bleues playersuntil the revelations of several media and an independent journalist, Romain Molina, on facts of alleged harassment and/or sexual assault which would have been hidden or which would not have been denounced, by members or former members of the FFF.
Overall, how do you view the current period which is agitating the FFF and French football?
It’s not something that promotes football at the moment, because there’s a lot of business, but there’s also a lot of business everywhere. Maybe at the moment, it’s a little more cumulative on football. We talk as much about sports as about external affairs. It’s not fun for us. Now, what I also see is that there is hyper media coverage, everything is dissected. When it’s real, when a story is real, when people have made mistakes, they must of course be punished. Now I think it’s a passage. There are passages like that. Right now it’s more about football. Afterwards, it’s up to us, and when I say us, it’s the football players, to work a little more, perhaps a little more at the level of education, in the training centers, and to do the housework if there is housework to do.
I think that, perhaps, there will be a general awareness to have on certain cases. But hey, there are also miscellaneous facts, family miscellaneous facts, of jealousy. It’s not fun, actually. There will certainly be, at some point, a conclusion to be drawn from all this and certainly that we will change things, because we have to be aware of all this so that we can protect our sport.
Especially since what comes out is not minor business…
No, these are not minor matters. Afterwards, it is sometimes difficult to know things. To know exactly. It’s not quite clear from what you read. So what is also interesting, in terms of journalism, and you know it, is that you have to check before giving out the information. Me, I think it’s important. And today, there is such a race against the clock on the first to come out of things, that I also find that we are going very quickly, and that afterwards, we draw conclusions very quickly. So me, I think we have to temporize on this, not to make tons of it at the start. And then afterwards, if there are things to sanction, footballer or not footballer, they will be sanctioned like everyone else. And it’s not to defend certain people, but a footballer is more highlighted than others, and therefore it creates more buzz. And today, we are in a society of buzz. We like that. But I think that when the business is clear and enlightened, that it will be neat, if there are things to change and that it is necessary to clean up, it will have to clean up. The federation is something important and it is she who must set the tempo on this. And the example.
Among the cases, there are alleged sexual abuse and a possible omerta denounced: do you have the feeling that it exists, in football?
I have never been confronted with this kind of thing. Is there an omerta? I do not know. A fear of attacking football or football people? I do not think so. Today, and not only in football, a lot of things come out about harassment, moral or otherwise. It didn’t come out before. I think that’s definitely a good thing. Now, how far do we put the cursor? I think there are also some people who also take advantage of this. That’s why I say: you really have to slow down, take a good look, case by case, not mix everything up, not go too fast either. There are a lot of parameters to look at. But I didn’t feel any particular omerta. I think football is not spared. When there is a problem, and I would even say that when there is a problem in football, since it creates a buzz, we even go there more easily.
Between these affairs at the fed, jealousy, blackmail, pressure, threats, settling of scores… are you shocked, despite everything, because you read and discover?
Indeed, it shocks me. Now, I’m going to say something trivial, but isn’t this a reflection of our society somewhere? Definitely. And for me, one of the very big problems remains social networks, for example. We are starting to attack social networks. But anyway, it’s high time, because throwing tons of insults like that for free, it can’t go on like that (he refers to the Diallo/Hamraoui case, editor’s note). It is not possible. I saw that there were starting to have advertisements. Well, we’re starting to get a little into the heart of the matter, but for me, it’s still a big problem in our society today. Social networks, everyone says anything and everything, at any time of day or night. It’s intolerable. It’s been intolerable for a while now. But it’s back to normal. We are beginning to say that it is serious. Well yes, of course it is serious, because there are consequences. There are people who suffer from this. We are in the evolution of our society, and we will have to put the kibosh. It will be necessary to sanction. Like the evolution also on the supporters. Are we not allowing certain so-called supporters to do too much – because for me, a guy who throws things on the field is not particularly a supporter – so if people come to disturb football , at some point, football has to be able to defend itself, that’s clear.
Will these cases have an impact on the performance of the Blues, in your opinion?
It’s always hard to say, but it is better that there is a peaceful context for the athlete to work well. Me, I have never been in the teams of France, but I see it on the clubs. It is better that the external context, of the club, the Federation or the League, is appeased so that it works well. Yes that’s for sure. Because a football player is still a human being. He is imbued with what is around him, automatically.