Playing 'le foot' with Platini et al

As mentioned in a blog below I have a long relationship with France, its people, and some of its companies. Indeed, one of my very earliest memories is of walking the ramparts at Carcassonne aged three. I can also recall, a couple of days later, learning to whistle as we crossed the Pyrenees to Barcelona.

But among my greatest memories of this wonderful country is of playing football against Michel Platini and other French football greats in Paris in late 1994. It happened when, as part of the multi-decade dance of despair between the advertising agency McCann-Ericksen and GM Opel, the Opel Group was transferred from Frankfurt to Paris.

One of the first things I noticed in the Levallois offices of McCann Paris (located in the lovely old building that once housed the British Hospital) was a poster announcing a football match to take place between the agency and Le Varieté Club de France. I knew that such events often involved famous celebrities and sports people so I asked around and discovered that the agency team would be playing against Mr Platini and other such Gods.

New boots

Well, as someone who had lived, breathed and dreamed football from a very young age I was not going to miss out on this! So, although my boots were still in Frankfurt (where I was briefly known at 'der British Gerd Muller' after scoring a hat-trick in an indoor tournament) I ran out and brought another pair. To their credit, the agency team was more than happy for me to take part even though I had only just been dunped on them.

The match took place at a sport ground in the west of Paris on a Sunday afternoon. As always I arrived early so I was there to see Platini stroll in. Although his career had only finished a few years previously he had already fleshed out considerably and was - at least physically - far from the graceful and inventive matchstick who had won so many games for France and Juventus in the 1980s. Even so, just watching him strike the ball as he warmed-up with a few of his old team mates was a joy. Such effortless power and precision.

The other player I recognised instantly was the winger Dominique Rocheteau because he looked exactly the same as the man whose poster had been on my bedroom wall circa 1978. He had not gained so much as half a kilo and his hair was just as long. I don't know who else took part but I believe it was mainly players from the great French team of the early to mid-80s - players like Jean Tigana and Alain Giresse. (I spotted the 'Alain Giresse Sports Ground' or some such in the town of his birth near Bordeaux recently. The sports ground was hosting a rather pathetic-looking circus. I think I saw an elephant.)

Needless to say, half the agency was, like me, determined to be part of this (some of them were nowhere to seen on wet Tuesday evenings for matches against other agencies). As such, I started the match as a substitute and watched as the old pros ran rings around the young guys from the agency. Rocheteau, in particular, took it all very seriously and ran about eagerly, determined to win by as many goals as possible. This was slightly surprising to me because he had always given the impression of being something of a playboy who would forget about football when his career was over. Platini, on the other hand, just strolled around, occasionally getting the ball then doing literally whatever he wanted to to do with it, usually things the rest of us could only dream of doing.

Nutmegged!

I got on to the pitch half way through the first half and remained there until half time. Then I think I was off-and-on during second half. I don't remember doing anything useful in a footballing sense, not least because we rarely had the ball. Unquestionably, the highlight from my point of view was being nutmegged by Rocheteau. I also remember marking Rocheteau while Platini tried to get in a cross, and thinking 'Wow! I can't believe this'.

It was all over very quickly and the Old Pros beat the Young Fools by a ridiculous margin. I shook hands with Platini and some of the other legends at the end of the game. I then became a reasonably useful part of the agency team for the rest of that season, a team that contained a couple of very good players. But not as good as Platini and Rocheteau.