Red Star Supernova: Changing times in Paris

Words: Guirec Munier

Images: Guirec Munier

When the schedule of the Championnat National (the French equivalent of the League One) was revealed at the end of July, the objective of visiting the legendary Bauer stadium before the destruction of the Rino Della Negra stand became concrete and urgent.

For several seasons I absolutely wanted to discover the historic Red Star FC stadium, in the working-class suburbs in the north of Paris.

The day before the first match of the season at home against Sochaux, I managed to sneak inside this 114-year-old stadium to immortalise the last breaths of the Rino Della Negra stand and see the evolution of the future stadium.

In full renovation, particularly in view of the 2024 Olympic Games, the Rino Della Negra stand (named after the club's former player, resistance fighter during the WWII and shot by the Nazis) is the very last vestige of a time soon gone.

The only stand at the Bauer stadium open to Red Star FC supporters for many seasons, it will be demolished next January. Only Planète Z, an iconic HLM (housing at moderate rent) building with a triangular structure, nicknamed the fourth stand of the Bauer stadium, will remain.

©Guirec Munier/ Terrace Edition. Red Star FC.

Apart from people plunged into a state of bliss in front of stadiums such as the St Mary's Stadium, the King Power Stadium or the London Stadium, the Bauer stadium and its Rino Della Negra stand can’t leave anyone indifferent.

This stand exudes experience. It carries the weight of the years on her frame. Every crack, every spot of rust, every faded wall are markers of his life.

The metal structure, the faded paint, the weeds, the tags, the protest stickers are also a sum of details which, taken end to end, relate the tumultuous history of Red Star FC.

We can also congratulate the management of Red Star FC for the freedom of expression given to the supporters who are the most vehement against them.

Created by Jules Rimet, initiator of the World Cup, the Saint-Ouen club is in the midst of an identity crisis. Torn between its intentions of modernity and the maintenance of its cultural identity, the trajectory of Red Star FC looks like that of Saint-Ouen.

Formerly communist, the city is gentrifying at a galloping speed and the Red Star FC audience is no longer made up only of workers and proletarians. You just need to go to the bar L’Olympic to be convinced. Here we talk, we drink and we breathe Red Star FC.

Before each game, men, women, ultras, hipsters, early supporters, guys from Saint-Ouen, guys from Paris, disillusioned with PSG and European groundhoppers come together to experience another type of football. A football not yet affected by money... but a little nonetheless.

A sort of mix between FC St. Pauli and Venezia FC, Red Star FC has taken the turn of strategic marketing of these two clubs. From the stylish toile de Jouy jersey retracing the history of the club to the one recently created thanks to artificial intelligence, including collaborations with trendy studios and capsule collections, Red Star FC has jumped with both feet into the football of today, or even tomorrow.

Also and above all, the sale of the club to the controversial American investment fund 777 Partners (already owner of Herta BSC, Genoa CFC, Standard Liège, CR Vasco de Gama and soon Everton) fuels the fears of the most fervent supporters.

In the Rino Della Negra stand, the devotees humanists and anti-fascists don’t like it when the games take place on Mondays, to the point of aiming a laser at the broadcaster's camera, and they chant against the referees: "Cops, referees or soldiers, what wouldn't we do for a salary! ".

These positions, added to the sudden increase in ticket prices, make cohabitation problematic with 777 Partners.

Red Star FC is changing galaxies and the legitimate fear of seeing the club lose its popular soul is palpable.