We haven’t stopped hearing Rolland Courbis talk about football. The 72-year-old coach, whose last adventure dates back to 2019 and a stint at SM Caen, arrives at the bedside of the worst amateur team in the country in the mini-series The heroes of the lawn from France 3 (available free on France.tv). The former OM and Montpellier coach comes to the aid of the players from Olympique Noves, near Avignon, who are dead last in D4 in their district, with no victories in 15 matches and 74 goals conceded!
The consultant for RMC and the L’Equipe channel is preparing a documentary (in several episodes) on his life, in order to discuss his incredible journey. Three subjects in particular come back to the table when he meets football enthusiasts: OM’s 5-4 against Montpellier in the summer of 1998, Zinédine Zidane’s debut at the Girondins de Bordeaux and his relationship with Prince Albert II of Monaco. For French Football Weekly“Coach Courbis” also gives us three ideas to revive today’s football.
The orange cardboard
“I don’t care about pissing off the world. Why is there no orange card for a temporary suspension of 10 or 20 minutes? This would remove the possibility of having a player sent off in the 5th minute of play. I’m not saying that an 11 versus 10 match doesn’t provide suspense, but it’s totally different football. It’s a huge anomaly, a huge horror that I would put in the scandal category. I’ve never been jealous in my life but I’m going to get to the point of being jealous of rugby. I find them much more competent, much smarter than us. When I ask to add an orange card, it is not to remove the red. If the action is very serious, at a certain point, we give red, no problem. But if it’s to remove all suspense, what’s the point of watching or paying to go to the stadium? »
Two-point victory with a bonus
“When you are a journalist, when you have had an instruction that I was not able to obtain, and when you say that two teams shared the points in a draw, I do not agree. Half of three is one and a half, not one. I’m told that every country has gone to three-point victory, but let me tell you that just because everyone is doing that doesn’t mean we have to follow. I was never shown the value of winning three points. When I don’t agree with something, I provide a solution if I can. I am for a three-point victory, but only for a victory with a three-goal margin. We give two points for a victory and one more point for three goals difference. When I see teams take three points for a 1-0 in the 93rd minute, it only makes me more angry. »
Two different Ballon d’Ors
“I’ve been the Ballon d’Or for 50 years, I didn’t wake up this morning and say to myself ‘shit, I don’t like the Ballon d’Or’. If you want, I like to make puns, so I think it’s the Horror Balloon! How can you put goalkeepers with defenders and attackers? It’s called taking people for idiots. Sometimes I’m told ‘Rolland, it doesn’t matter, it’s like that‘, but I don’t care. I’m trying to demonstrate the ridiculousness of the situation. The Ballon d’Or was invented by competent and educated people, but, modestly, I, the village dunce, can explain to you that it is nonsense. There was progress with the Yachine Trophy for the best goalkeeper, but why are goalkeepers still included in the Ballon d’Or nominees? Is this to annoy me even more? Let them explain to me why they are so stupid. Donnarumma who takes a place in the 30 named while there is no Pacho, who is, for me, in the top 3 or 4 of the best PSG players. The goalkeepers do a different job than the outfield players, they don’t even have the same jerseys. I started thinking 60 years ago and I am against the Ballon d’Or. There should be a Ballon d’Or for offensive players and a Ballon d’Or for defensive players. And if we end up with a 6 or an 8, we let the players vote. And we have to stop asking for top 5s, we have to ask for podiums. On top of that, I only allow two players from the same club in the list of three. These intelligent people, if they can’t think, it’s serious. It’s been 60 years that irritate me. And when I meet people from France Football
(he is a speaker on the L’Equipe channel, editor’s note)I do not hesitate to argue to ridicule them. If I’m Hakimi, I’m happy to see Dembélé Ballon d’Or. But if I am Dembélé and Hakimi is Ballon d’Or, I can blame the whole world. We could have two Ballon d’Ors instead of having this horror Ballon! »
Rolland Courbis, Ousmane Dembélé’s second professional coach.
