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The Times (London)
May 6, 2011 Friday
Edition 2; National Edition
Blanc's position under threat as race row escalates in France;
Claim of quota for black and Arab players in national set-up
BY: Adam Sage
France's 1998 World Cup-winning side, who were hailed as a model of
multi-ethnic harmony, split along race lines yesterday amid an
escalating row over claims that the country's football authorities
planned to impose a quota on black and Arab players.
As Laurent Blanc struggled to save his job as coach, Patrick Vieira,
his team-mate in 1998, became the latest figure to take sides in a
dispute with explosive ramifications for French society.
"This story is scandalous," the Manchester City midfield player said.
"I'm shocked. I would never have imagined that the football chiefs in
our country could have such conversations about the France team."
He was joined by two other members of the World Cup-winning squad,
Lilian Thuram and Bernard Lama, who are black, in issuing
thinly-veiled calls for Blanc to resign along with Fernand Duchaussoy,
the president of the French football federation (FFF).
But Didier Deschamps, the captain 13 years ago, Bixente Lizarazu and
Christophe Dugarry, who are white, defended Blanc. Dugarry, the former
Birmingham City forward, came close to accusing Thuram of displaying
antiwhite prejudice on the night of France's World Cup victory for
suggesting a photo with black members of the team only. "The words
were discriminatory," he said.
The row is particularly inflammatory because the make-up of the 1998
squad, which was built around Zinédine Zidane, who is of Algerian
origin, was touted as symbol of national unity.
It comes with race relations already under strain with opinion polls
predicting a record vote for Marine Le Pen, the National Front
candidate, in next year's presidential election.
The scandal erupted last week when Mediapart, an internet news site,
published the transcript of an FFF meeting recorded secretly by
Mohammed Belkacemi, an official responsible for youth football in poor
urban areas.
Those present at the meeting, including Blanc, discussed and appeared
to approve the idea of limiting the number of black and Arab players
with dual nationality in French club training centres. They said that
they were fed up with seeing Frenchtrained players opting to play for
the countries of their parents' birth, usually former French colonies
in North and West Africa.
Blanc was also reported to have said at an earlier meeting that the
influx of black players had made the French game overly physical. He
is alleged to have said: "You have the impression that they really
train the same prototype of players, big, strong, powerful. Who is
there who is currently big, strong, powerful? The blacks. The Spanish
tell me, 'We don't have a problem. We don't have any blacks.' " After
initially dismissing the reports as false, Blanc backtracked and said:
"If I upset certain sensitivities, I apologise."
French foreign legion
Twelve of France's 22-man World Cup squad in 1998 were either born
abroad or had close links with other countries. Patrick Vieira (born
in Senegal) Marcel Desailly (born in Ghana) Lilian Thuram (born in
Guadeloupe) Christian Karembéu (born in New Caledonia) Bernard Lama
(French Guianan descent) Youri Djorkaeff (Armenian descent) Zinédine
Zidane (Algerian descent) Alain Boghossian (Armenian descent) Bernard
DiomÈde (Guadeloupe descent) David Trezeguet (Argentine descent)
Thierry Henry (Guadeloupe father, Martinique mother) Robert PirÈs
(Portuguese father, Spanish mother) The others Vincent Candela,
Bixente Lizarazu, Laurent Blanc, Didier Deschamps, Stéphane Guivarc'h,
Fabien Barthez, Emmanuel Petit, Frank Lebeouf, Christophe Dugarry,
Lionel Charbonnier
From: A. Papazian
May 6, 2011 Friday
Edition 2; National Edition
Blanc's position under threat as race row escalates in France;
Claim of quota for black and Arab players in national set-up
BY: Adam Sage
France's 1998 World Cup-winning side, who were hailed as a model of
multi-ethnic harmony, split along race lines yesterday amid an
escalating row over claims that the country's football authorities
planned to impose a quota on black and Arab players.
As Laurent Blanc struggled to save his job as coach, Patrick Vieira,
his team-mate in 1998, became the latest figure to take sides in a
dispute with explosive ramifications for French society.
"This story is scandalous," the Manchester City midfield player said.
"I'm shocked. I would never have imagined that the football chiefs in
our country could have such conversations about the France team."
He was joined by two other members of the World Cup-winning squad,
Lilian Thuram and Bernard Lama, who are black, in issuing
thinly-veiled calls for Blanc to resign along with Fernand Duchaussoy,
the president of the French football federation (FFF).
But Didier Deschamps, the captain 13 years ago, Bixente Lizarazu and
Christophe Dugarry, who are white, defended Blanc. Dugarry, the former
Birmingham City forward, came close to accusing Thuram of displaying
antiwhite prejudice on the night of France's World Cup victory for
suggesting a photo with black members of the team only. "The words
were discriminatory," he said.
The row is particularly inflammatory because the make-up of the 1998
squad, which was built around Zinédine Zidane, who is of Algerian
origin, was touted as symbol of national unity.
It comes with race relations already under strain with opinion polls
predicting a record vote for Marine Le Pen, the National Front
candidate, in next year's presidential election.
The scandal erupted last week when Mediapart, an internet news site,
published the transcript of an FFF meeting recorded secretly by
Mohammed Belkacemi, an official responsible for youth football in poor
urban areas.
Those present at the meeting, including Blanc, discussed and appeared
to approve the idea of limiting the number of black and Arab players
with dual nationality in French club training centres. They said that
they were fed up with seeing Frenchtrained players opting to play for
the countries of their parents' birth, usually former French colonies
in North and West Africa.
Blanc was also reported to have said at an earlier meeting that the
influx of black players had made the French game overly physical. He
is alleged to have said: "You have the impression that they really
train the same prototype of players, big, strong, powerful. Who is
there who is currently big, strong, powerful? The blacks. The Spanish
tell me, 'We don't have a problem. We don't have any blacks.' " After
initially dismissing the reports as false, Blanc backtracked and said:
"If I upset certain sensitivities, I apologise."
French foreign legion
Twelve of France's 22-man World Cup squad in 1998 were either born
abroad or had close links with other countries. Patrick Vieira (born
in Senegal) Marcel Desailly (born in Ghana) Lilian Thuram (born in
Guadeloupe) Christian Karembéu (born in New Caledonia) Bernard Lama
(French Guianan descent) Youri Djorkaeff (Armenian descent) Zinédine
Zidane (Algerian descent) Alain Boghossian (Armenian descent) Bernard
DiomÈde (Guadeloupe descent) David Trezeguet (Argentine descent)
Thierry Henry (Guadeloupe father, Martinique mother) Robert PirÈs
(Portuguese father, Spanish mother) The others Vincent Candela,
Bixente Lizarazu, Laurent Blanc, Didier Deschamps, Stéphane Guivarc'h,
Fabien Barthez, Emmanuel Petit, Frank Lebeouf, Christophe Dugarry,
Lionel Charbonnier
From: A. Papazian