Toulouse. To promote popular football, they launch an alternative festival to the World Cup
By Lucie Fraisse
Published on
We can love the Soccer without endorsing the business that surrounds it. It is on the strength of this observation that a handful of friends from Toulouse had the idea of launching For another football, a festival that wants to promote a festive, united and popular football.
“Qatar? A social, human and ecological scandal! »
“There were already things to complain about in previous World Cups, whether at the Brazil or en Russiavalued Pascal Castellon, one of the members of For Another Football. But there with the one who stands at the Qatarwhich is a social, human and ecological scandal, we said to ourselves that we had to do something, to show thatanother football is possible. »
Football matches and many meetings
Together the members of the association initially imagine replaying one of the matches of the 1938 World Cupof which two matches took place in Toulouse.
The Cuba-Romania match of 38 will thus be replayed this Sunday, October 16, 2022, from 2 p.m., at Bazacle. A sports and family meeting open to all, with fanfare, entertainment and information stand (registrations here).
“Initially, we started just with the organization of this match to celebrate popular football, says Pascal Castello. And then the program expanded. »
Expo, table football, ball tennis
The festival For another football, which should offer appointments until the end of the World Cup, therefore begins this Friday, October 14, in Job, in the district of the Seven Deniers with an exhibition on the living conditions of migrant workers in Qatar, followed by a debate with Amnesty Internationalfrom 7 p.m.
The next day, Saturday, Place Job will celebrate football, with human table football, table football, ball tennis, street football… The day will end with an aperitif concert before the screening of Ken Loach’s film Looking for Eric.
No call for a boycott, but reflection and debate
With this first weekend of celebration, the association wants above all to highlight football as a popular sport.
“We don’t want to incite people to boycott World Cup matches, we don’t turn our backs on the people who are going to watch,” explains Pascal Costello. We all have contradictions: I myself am a supporter of the TFC, I am at the stadium every weekend and I also find that the players are overpaid, even if they do a good job. But we want to encourage reflection and discussion: this time we won’t just passively watch this world cup. »
To do this, the collective has established partnerships with three bars in Toulouse where events will be regularly organized throughout the World Cup, such as broadcasts of matches with alternative commentaries or even matches with improv theater or concerts. The program, regularly updated, is to be discovered on this site.
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