Football: A year to forget but reasons to hope for the five from Thau

Le temps est une dimension de la réalité. À méditer. MIDI LIBRE – E.R.

Le bilan de cette première partie de saison n’est pas flatteur pour le bassin.

The year 2024 has ended, around the Thau basin, it will remain as a bad memory for the clubs that evolve at the regional level.

At the dawn of 2025, four teams of the “Club des Cinq” are in a bad position. How did we get to this point?? Several reasons, not only sporting, it is a recurring observation.

Problems, human and financial

For the locomotive of Sète, it is unfortunately also the story of a collective chaos that continues. Arrivals, returns, departures, outbursts, regrets, passion too, in short everything is far from being settled for the immense sorrow of the supporters with the “Green and white” heart.

For some, problems, in human and financial relations, have marked the course of the year. For others, discipline and, let's not hide it, very limited numbers, mean that performances suffer. Unfortunately, the time for the improvement phase has not yet arrived, but the leaders are working on it.

The end of last season seems far away

Last June, at the end of the 2023-2024 season, we were satisfied with the accession to Regional 2 of the brand new SC Sète. We recorded the maintenance of Mèze SFC and we were reassured by the fantastic rise of the Muscatiers in R1. A departmental final had even embellished the decor. Stade Balarucois, blocked by the reconquest of Sète, had been able to play at the top of the table without being able to claim the accessits. For its part, Asfac II with its youngsters, had surprised by validating very early its future ticket for R3.

A reconstruction to begin

Today, we have gone back almost a year. The “Club des Cinq”, with the exception of Stade Balarucois, as in the previous break, is in great difficulty. The economic slump has worsened, football is no longer the most prominent sport in the area. There are fewer sponsors, some are withdrawing or changing their sponsors, times are hard for everyone.

The problem is that the opponents seem to be doing much better. Despite this observation, in Thau as elsewhere, thanks to their volunteers, the clubs are continuing their efforts with young people. Football remains a social and inclusion vector. It remains an educational lever and still plays its crucial role in social cohesion in France. The time for reconstruction is long, you have to know how to take it.

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