Memory of the Academy and Furiani
The young residents of the training center were visited by actress and director Corin Mattei, whose short film “May 5, 1992” portrayed the Furiani disaster in a unique way. Enough to raise awareness among Academy members about an event that marked the history of French football.
May 5, 1992. Corsica celebrates. Sporting Club de Bastia, then a resident of the second division, is set to face Olympique de Marseille in the semi-finals of the French Cup. The event then created unprecedented excitement on the island of Beauty. The Claude Papi stand was hastily demolished and replaced by a metal structure, which will allow the island club to meet the unprecedented demand for tickets to attend the match.
The party turned into a nightmare when the new grandstand at the Armand-Césary stadium collapsed minutes before kick-off. 18 dead and 2,357 injured, the worst toll ever recorded on French territory for a single sporting event.
“May 5, 1992”, animated appearance by Corinne Mattei
Corin Mattei experienced the drama in his own body, as his brother “collapsed”, as the unfortunate witnesses of this night of horror said. Moreover, “May 5, 1992” is dedicated to him, a stunning, moving short film, but also a humble look at the disaster. The actress and director explained to Academy members gathered to watch her film late last week: “I bet to speak to the joy that a drama awakens upstream and must continue to awaken. . My goal was to present a different perspective, while maintaining the image of an island that wants to have a great party, without leaving aside the sadness that it all creates.
The Monegasques gathered in the auditorium of the Performance Center thus attended a private demonstration together with their educators, Sébastien Muet, director of the Academy, and Damien Perrinelle, coach of the Elite Group. “I can still tell you where I was, who I was with and what I ate that day,” Sébastien Muet explained to the residents. It is an event that we should all celebrate and remember. You are not born, but it also contributes to the constitution of football culture, because Furiani is a separate chapter.
Pascal Olmeta, privileged witness for younger generations
And so the young Monegasques followed the adventures of Romain (played by Marc Andria Sanna), a mischievous kid from Bastia who was no longer sleepy about accompanying his father (played by Nicolas Poli) to the stadium. support patrons.
Romain’s mother (Caroline Fostinelli) also has trouble sleeping. But not for the same reasons. Work on the increased security was barely completed by match day and people from all over the island were wondering if security would be maintained. This doubt still accompanies the lives of the survivors, many of whom still wake up on this May 5, 1992, with gas hills.
This is the work of Pascal Olmeta, who was happy to return to his island for the meeting, even though he was OM’s goalkeeper at the time. A former janitor at the Performance Center breaks down as he recalls “the smoke, the screams, the changing room doors that served as stretchers and the children crying.”
During the tragedy, Lysandru’s father has only one concern, to inquire about the state of health of his daughter, who fortunately did not come to the match. “This drama lives on in the lives of many people and it is very important that we remember it. We don’t want to go through that again. It is also necessary to know that at that time we did not have a psychological cell at our disposal. When we experience something that will mark us for life.
After the release of the short film, which was presented at the last Cannes festival, a few days after the 30th anniversary of the disaster, the members of the Academy were able to discuss with the protagonists and thus learn more about Furiani. The disaster is a painful episode, but it is a memory debt that is necessary for novice footballers.
