Alain Finkielkraut, an arch conservative refers to Les Bleus as a bunch of thugs who have the morals of the mafia. Finkielkraut says that this generation of caillera (the street slang incomprehensible to white French - a metonym for non-whites) makes him want to throw up. They are destroying the fabric of France.
He denounces the incredible vulgarity of Nicholas Anelka and the existence of ethnic and religious divisions within the team. Anelka launched into Raymond Domenech at half time of the Mexico vs France match using four letter vulgarities and calling him a SOB. Patrice Evra dismissed Anelka's aggression saying that was not the problem, the traitor who disclosed the half time altercation was.
Finkielkraut has entertained controversy over Les Bleus before. In an interview with Haaretz, he said, "We are told that the France team is admired because she is black-white-brown. In fact, today it is black-black-black, and they laugh at us across Europe."
I have already said that this implosion within the French team would be used to gin up the National Front and far right activists with their anti immigration platform.
The FFF own this problem fair and square- they made an unforgivable mistake sticking with the aloof and divisive Raymond Domenech. The players lost all respect for him over the years. If they had given the job to Didier Deschamps when they had the chance, it would have been a very different story. In a city like Marseilles which is home to thousands of North Africans, the babtous Deschamps is revered for what he has done with L'OM.
The French Ligue is vibrant and with its Champions League success there is optimism for the future but the national team's problems could undermine all these positive developments. The sport is just an altercation away from igniting the divisive politics of race and colour. The continued failures of Les Bleus will also make the French turn to their more recently successful rugby team.
Thanks to Manu for pointing to this article >>
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