The businessman, who was also president of Olympique de Marseille, wanted to be buried in the small cemetery of Mazargues, in the southern Phocian city.
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The black hearse covers the rear window the trace of dozens of friendly hands which, one last time, wanted to approach it. This Friday, October 8, the coffin of Bernard Tapie moves gently in the middle of a small crowd of anonymous, the Old Port of Marseille at the Cathedral of Major. No escort, neither order service on this short course. Just men, women and some teens, not even born when the businessman left the presidency of Olympique de Marseille (OM), in 1994.
An anonymous group walking in silence, where aggregate those who simply want to accompany him “that has brought them so much happiness.” The family clan that has left this incredible moment unfold, waiting a few hundred meters away, near the cathedral that overlooks the sea. The ultras of OM, a few thousand supporters gathered since the morning after remote respectful. Fumigents lit, wind flags, the bands have emerged the tarpaulin behind which they crossed Europe in the early 1990s and sing the glory of “their” former president.
All Marseille is not there, but in the beautiful light of an autumn day, it is a powerful and irrational tribute that a small part of his population has come to Bernard Tapie, died on Sunday 3 October at the age of 78 years. “For the Marseillais, it is an unusable myth. He embodied transgression in all his forms, freedom in all his forms. He could only please”, explained, at the beginning of the week, Pierre Dantin, academic, vice– Dean of the Faculty of Sports and former Secretary General of OM. “I do not wear the pinnacle, but I just greet the link he established with our city,” reflects Dimitri forties who throws around it looks fascinated.
“His love for Marseille was not “fake” “
Two days earlier, on the forecourt of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés church in Paris where a first mass was held, Stéphane Tapie, his son, warned: “We bring you home” . This wish to be buried in Marseille, in the small cemetery of Mazargues, moved the local fervor. “I hallucinated when I learned it. It proves that his love for Marseille was not” Fake “”, Gliping Jeff Rinaudo, blue and white scarf around the neck. “It is him would not have wanted to be buried at Pere Lachaise … I would even up to Paris for that, because we had to accompany him as he accompanied our lives,” says David, 48, Tattoo of Diego Maradona on the skull.
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