Football: 169 goals conceded in 16 games, the incredible difficult but joyful season of a small team from Pas-de-Calais
The footballers of the Grenay club are going through a unique season. Permanently understaffed, they suffer severe defeats at each of their meetings, or almost. So much so that their balance of points in the standings is… negative! -1 point… Despite everything, those who have chosen to continue try to wear the colors of the club.
A storm every Sunday. This is what the players of Avant-Garde Grenay, the club of the city of Pas-de-Calais, which plays in D1 of the Artois district, hen B, go through, almost every weekend.
Results after 16 days of the championship: 0 wins, 16 losses, 8 goals scored against… 169 conceded! Incongruity: their number of points in the ranking is even negative! -1 point, after they had to declare themselves during a meeting at the start of the season.
But how did we arrive at such a situation? The story is told by our colleagues from The voice of the North.
At the end of the very first match of the season, the team lost at Vendin-le-Vieil in the Coupe de France. The coach, then, slams the door. Problem: almost all of the workforce follows suit. Out of around sixty players, only a dozen agree to stay.
“A victory? Yes, at the bar!”
So we have to rebuild the team. Helped by players from futsal, the leaders managed to bring together a small group. Fifteen or seize at most. Usually a dozen or so.
The AGG is thus at each meeting, understaffed: they face their opponents at nine, at ten… Consequence: defeats 15-1 (in Calonne Liévin), 13-0 (in Guarbecque), 21-1 (at Labeuvriere). Sometimes, as in Labeuvrière precisely, the empathetic opponents reserve a guard of honor for the Grenaysiens at the end of the meeting.
In Grenay, we do not despair, one day, of finally winning a victory. Not without humor: “We hope to win it, at the bar!” do they tell The voice of the North. “Or by organizing a game against the under-13s…”