France national football team

French film-maker Sonia Dauger talks about the true political significance of the French football team, and the myth of the black-blanc-beur team of 98.

That they have to be good, they have to win, they have to entertain us, and they have to be wise and humble at the same time. “They were thinking this match was the match of the reconciliation between France and Algeria. “Laurent Blanc arrived in 2010 just after the fiasco of the World Cup in South Africa”, reflects Sonia. Blanc arrived and had to put the house in order, and he agreed with these ready-made ideas that were spreading in France that young people with double nationality were seen as a problem, and they betrayed us in Knysna: ‘We have to get rid of them from the national team as they will betray us again, just like they did last year.’ It was the end of the Black-Blanc-Beur myth, as Laurent Blanc was a member of that team.” We have no blacks.’” A subsequent government inquiry cleared Blanc of alleged discrimination, though said the comments had “innuendos that very often were borderline tending toward racist.” Years later, the unity of the team itself was shattered. “France neglected part of its population: the population from the suburbs, from the working class, and the population coming from immigrant backgrounds. Black-Blanc-Beur is like a united, indivisible team, just like the Republic, and just like the French people. It was a slogan for the country: for the football, politics, the French symbols, and it sounded good. La Marseillaise was roundly booed before kick-off and with France 4-1 up and 15 minutes left on the clock, hundreds of fans poured onto the pitch, eventually forcing the game to be abandoned. So they didn’t understand that something was cracking in French society: that people felt as if they were not treated as 100% French.” What is interesting in the Black-Blanc-Beur is that it is related to the myth of the Republic.