Continuation and end of our mini-series on the anniversary of the Cauldron, which blew out its 90 candles this Monday. The mayor of Saint-Étienne, president of SEM, Gaël Perdriau speaks about this real gem of the city.
The fans, the historian, the dean …
We started with the testimony of the oldest supporter of the Greens, also a player of the club before the Second World War, Émile Robert. The great-great-grandson of Geoffroy-Guichard, Jérémy, also returned to his family’s relationship with the ASSE compound.
Obviously, the memory of the club, Philippe Gastal answered all our questions. Obviously, we also gave the floor to the supporters who bring the stadium to life with the president of the USS, the union of Saint-Etienne supporters, Jean-Guy Riou. Then the Côte Chaude goalkeeper, Stéphane Méallier returned to this unique experience for an amateur to tread the lawn of Geoffroy-Guichard.
Finally this Thursday, it is the mayor of Saint-Étienne and president of SEM on which Geoffroy-Guichard depends, Gaël Perdriau, which delivers. Among all the symbols of the city of seven hills, Geoffroy-Guichard and the ASSE club are certainly the most important of them.
“Saint-Étienne, ASSE and Geoffroy-Guichard are inseparable”
“I think it is the symbol of Saint-Étienne. In my travels, wherever I go, as soon as I talk about the city, the color green comes to people’s minds. And Geoffroy-Guichard, it’s ASSE, it’s Saint-Étienne. These names are inseparable“.
Regularly in the stadium stands, the mayor tells : “Geoffroy-Guichard, it’s an incredible moment of jubilation where we share emotions with friends, but also with people we don’t know. The atmosphere is incredible and you have to live it to understand it“.
The police quack, the major football and rugby competitions
During its 90 years, the stadium has not only known football. Gaël Perdriau looks back on the major events that took place in Geoffroy-Guichard during the last years. “The first big event, for me, is September 13, 1931 with the inauguration of the stadium with a football match, but the flagship match of the day was rugby. When we say Geoffroy-Guichard, we obviously mean football. We have had the Euro twice and the World Cup 98 which remains the biggest planetary event hosted here. But it’s not just that, we also hosted the Rugby World Cup in 2007 and we will host it again in 2023“.
Besides, football and rugby are pulling the plug for the palm for the attendance record of the “new Geoffroy-Guichard ‘ (with a capacity of 41,965 places after renovations for Euro 2016).
For a long time, the semi-final of the European Rugby Cup between ASM and Saracens (41,492 spectators in 2015) was in the lead, just ahead of the shock Saint-Étienne – Manchester United in the Europa League (40,939 in 2017). But it is ultimately the (tragic) January 2019 derby against Lyon (41,594 spectators) who has held the record for two years.
“Le Chaudron is suitable for other events. He has done it before, sometimes with varying degrees of success (smile) (editor’s note, like the fiasco of the Police group concert in 2008), but we all have good memories of the concerts of Yannick Noah or Johnny Hallyday in Geoffroy-Guichard“, concludes Gaël Pedriau.