FC Metz Supporters Rebelling Against Losing

Last September I got to visit the lovely little town of Metz, France, where I watched their football team, FC Metz, get slaughtered 5-1 by visiting Ligue 1 champs Olympique Lyonnais. It was a fun game to watch, though, because Metz never gave up. They fought it out to the end. And that’s when I fell in love with the team. (Yes, I’m a sucker for feisty underdogs.)

If you visit the team store, you’ll see a huge pennant hanging proudly above the cash registers that says something like, “FC Metz, Ligue 2 Champions, 2006.” There is one minor problem with being the Ligue 2 champions, though. You then get bumped up to Ligue 1 and have to play with the big boys. And that’s where FC Metz’s problems began.

The team currently sits 20th out of twenty teams with a miserable 7 points in 15 games. (And if I’m reading the results grid correctly, four of those points came from nil-nil draws. Yes, there seems to be a bit of a scoring issue this year.) And their fans are NOT happy about this. So much so that they’re in rebellion, threatening to block access to the stands in protest. Because that will surely fix things. From l’Equipe.:

Génération Grenat, a group of FC Metz supporters, plans to block access to the lower West level of the Stade Saint-Symphorien to protest against the poor performance of the club, last in L1, during the 16th day match which will be played Saturday between Metz and Auxerre. In a statement issued Thursday, the leadership of FC Metz said they “understand the disappointment of the fans but believe that the decision to block the stadium is questionable.” She offered assurances, however, that the blockage will not take place and that spectators will be able to get to their seats.

In view of the performance of the team this season, the fans believe that the leadership of the club has not made sufficient efforts to establish a competitive group which would allow them to remain in Ligue 1.

I’m going to be keeping an eye on the results and hoping this works. And if it does, maybe we could import the strategy for MLS teams like RSL or the LA Galaxy?

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Category: Europe, World Football