What went wrong at the France-England Game on Friday?
As of late Sunday evening, still no official response to the lights-out in Lille on Friday.
In its place there are hundreds of comments from all corners. One local tweeter said a 10.30 pm black-out is automatic and wondered if anyone had bothered to tell the town hall about the match.
French social media comments about the decision to abandon the game were loud and largely targeted at the English. ‘Fair-play’ (‘invented by the English for others to follow’), ‘les Rosbeefs’ and ‘Brexit’ appeared widely, though the vegans in the English team won’t appreciate the well-known nickname.
At official level French dissatisfaction was plain. Annick Hayraud revealed the split in opinions about a restart. Les Bleues wanted to go on; the English didn’t. They were concerned about possible injuries after such a long break – it would have taken a long while for the lights to be restored, followed by a 10-minute warm-up. The game had started late, at 9 pm, so goodness knows when it might have finished. To counter, Hayraud recalled a game in Ireland in 2015 when a similar mishap took place. The players waited 45 minutes to resume play.
The implications from the French, official and unofficial, more than hinted at English unfair play. The Red Roses were in the lead, the game would be theirs if the game was called off; they opted for the easy and unsporting way out.
Other voices criticised the French side of things: ‘In France we want to defeat Covid when we can’t even defeat an electricity cut’ You sensed a dig at the north of France, always the butt of humour from those living further south. ‘Never play there again!’ was one suggestion.
The silence emanating from the local authorities may be the result of extreme embarrassment. But then, who is around late on a Friday evening or even a Saturday to field searching questions and offer reasonable answers?
Rugby was the loser. The game was of the no-holds-barred variety, a last chance this season for the French to end an unacceptable run of losses behind them. ‘Eighteen long minutes to go’ as the frustrated captain Gaëlle Hermet put it. Who could possibly say how things might have developed?
One of the Red Roses’ assets has been the ability to close out tight games with a win, but that can’t go on for ever.
It all leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
