Sometimes a sentence, a little old France, a little outdated, sometimes to trigger digital anger. Tuesday evening, Guy Roux, 86, had the misfortune to dare a clumsy comparison between the rhythm of the jubilee of Djibril Cissé and that of a women's football match. A remark slipped with a smile, a bit teasing, during a live on the team. And since then? The former AJA coach finds himself nailed to the pillory. Accused of sexism, the treaty of senile or archaic, as if a life of passion and contribution to French football no longer weighed anything in the face of a quote from its context.
A word of way, a torrent of reproaches
Because who is Guy Roux? A man who gave 44 years of his life in Auxerre. A builder. A trainer. A talent discoverer, from Eric Cantona to Djibril Cissé. A lover of the game, young people, round ball. And, it should be remembered, an 86-year-old man who continues to follow football acutely. “He said the terms”wrote a twittos. And another to add: “The simple fact that he saw a female football match, at his age, demonstrates an immense opening of mind.” Yes, Guy Roux said stupidity. But who, sincerely, thinks he was trying to offend?
Guy Roux, target of an unjust surge
Clumsy humor does not deserve media stoning
The real discomfort is not in his sentence that we have to look for him. It was in the disproportionate reaction that followed. RMC threw itself on the bone like an English tabloid. Other media have relayed the info, without perspective, without nuance. Women's football, which deserves to be respected and promoted, has nothing to gain from leaving itself as a victim of a man whose whole career is a hymn to the love of the game in all its forms.
Respecting a man is also giving him the right to the faux pas
It is not to excuse to understand. Guy Roux did not insult. He compared. Awkwardly. He could have said that it was slow, that he was bored, that it lacked intensity. He preferred a pirouette, a wink. Poorly received. You also have to know how to replace the words in the context, that of a festive jubilee, in a stage that he himself helped build. Recall it to order? Maybe. Devoting it to gemonies? Certainly not.
Guy Roux, what he represents must weigh in the scale
What this controversy tells us is also our relationship disturbed in memory, recognition, transmission. Football is also men, figures, living legends. Guy Roux is one. We can correct his words, but not erase what he has given. So, for once, imitate José Mourinho: “Respect, respect, respect.” Because deep down, that's all a man like him deserves today.
