Red Star Paris FC: a crisis of identity
Illustration Credit: Georgia Ryan
Following the failed creation of the European Super League last year, the modern framework of sport and in particular football have come under heavy criticism. Capitalist initiatives such as the ESL are seen by many as representing attempts to further entrench the wealth in sport among a certain privileged few, whilst also consequently severing the links between football and the communities that really support it. Located in the Parisian Commune of Saint-Ouen, Red Star Paris FC faces a similar crisis regarding the nature of its own identity against ongoing expansion and building projects.
Despite its rich history and the club’s status as five-time winners of the Coupe de France, Red Star remains relatively unknown when compared to its Parisian neighbour, the Paris St-Germain. Currently playing in the third tier of French football, the Championnat de France National, the club has laid out its ambitions to return to the highest leagues of French football, a project which is seen by many as needing to stretch beyond the football pitch itself.
Founded in 1897 by a group that included Jules Rimet, the former FIFA President who oversaw the creation of the football world cup, Red Star is renowned for its distinctive social and political culture. Red Star is seen by those associated with it as more than a football club, as a kind of all-welcoming utopia and hub of class consciousness. The club’s own twitter bio captures and epitomises this mythical aura, labelling itself as a « Club romantique fondé par Jules Rimet en 1897» (‘Romantic club founded by Jules Rimet in 1897’). Values and culture are crucial to the particular identity that the club seeks to build.
As its name suggests, the club’s origins are proudly left-wing, and its history has been built largely upon its traditionally anti-fascist, banlieusard, and secular fanbase. At each match, its most loyal supporters hand out song sheets and information posters to those present, detailing on and off field news about the club. Such sheets currently discuss the idea of crisis, which can currently be related to both rumours of the club’s pending sale, as well to questions surrounding the club’s stadium.
Beyond the role of its fanbase, the Red Star identity is intrinsically linked to its stadium, the almost mythical Stade Bauer. Named after Doctor Bauer, a French resistance figure shot by German forces in 1942, the stadium has become more than simply a place in which football is played. Standing in the tribunes on a matchday, fans can regularly be heard chanting with fervor « Le Red Star c’est à Bauer, et Bauer c’est au Red Star » (‘The Red Star is in Bauer, and Bauer is in the Red Star’).
Yet in July 2021 a 200-million-euro renovation project was proposed that would have seen the demolition and reconstruction of the Stade Bauer. This project angered many of the club’s most loyal supporters, who see it as putting the Red Star identity at risk. Since then, an agreement has been found between the clubs supporters, the town council (‘mairie’) of Saint-Ouen and Réalités, the business party leading the renovation, which has resulted in several compromises regarding the nature of the project.
Nevertheless, the transformation of the area will include the annexation of a new commercial centre, the “Box Bauer”, to the stadium. This “Box” will contain restaurants, shops, and a business school among other facilities. On one level, this project symbolizes part of a desire to see Red Star build its brand and to return to the higher divisions of French football. The stadium in its current state fails to meet the necessary requirements for a football team in the higher divisions. Yet such a project also contrasts the identity which the club has built throughout its history and continues to align itself with. The renovation of the Stade Bauer is therefore seen by many as something unequivocally negative, a sale of the club’s soul as it wittingly allies with the capitalist values it has so long opposed. Conversely, those in the club supporting the ongoing building projects assert that Red Star is trying to maintain its vision of football as something accessible and humanist for all. This however appears to be difficult in a modern sporting world where money dictates all, where Red Star sits in the shadow of its Qatari-owned neighbour, the PSG. Red Star’s kit last season sketched out its own history within its designs, representing part of an attempt to educate its younger fans of its history. Projects and initiatives such as this symbolise the club’s ongoing desire to maintain its own identity and culture against the commercialised nature of modern football, yet it remains to be seen whether the club will be able to continually seek such a balance between tradition and development, with the transformation of its home scheduled to finish in 2024.