Arsenal’s trip to Lens evokes glory days in miners’ town hooked to football

Nestled in between the old slag heaps of northern France, now a UNESCO world heritage site, the 38,000-capacity stadium famously has more seats than the entire population of Lens. And for the 30th consecutive match, the local favourites will play to a full house when they take on Arsenal in their second group clash.

“They could easily have filled the stadium up twice, such is the fervour behind the team,” said local journalist Joël Domenighetti, who covers the Racing Club de Lens (RC Lens, or just Lens)for France’s leading sports daily L’Equipe. He pointed to a “fusional relationship” between the football club, its hometown and the former coal-mining region around it.

That relationship is why the Sang et Or – a nickname derived from their iconic red and yellow striped shirts – rank among France’s most popular clubs, despite having only won the French League once, a quarter of a century ago.

“They can rely on a loud, festive and colourful crowd that embodies the notion of foot populaire (working-class football),” said Domenighetti, stressing the fans’ role in shaping their club’s identity.

“In Marseille, the fans want their players to be rebels: it’s Marseille vs the world. In Paris, it’s La Scala, you’ve got to showcase your technical skills,” he explained. “In Lens, you have to attack, go beyond your role and give the fans something to shout about – that’s how they won the title back in 1998.”

When Lens clinched the title that year, there was no open-top bus in town for the players’ victory parade. Instead, they climbed into a farming trailer painted in red and yellow and pulled along by a tractor, with the club’s legendary president Gervais Martel at the wheel.

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