THIS IS PARIS
Travel to any country on Earth where football is celebrated, and you’ll hear the same stories about clubs whose trophy rooms once sparkled before hard times took hold. Some faded from view; others out of existence altogether.
But few former giants are as idealised as Red Star, among the grandest old names of French football. The club is tucked away in the working-class district of Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine in northern Paris, but for various reasons their appeal reaches far beyond the boundaries of that densely populated commune.
Back in the 1920s, Red Star were France’s most successful club. There was no national league set up at the time, so they established their supremacy through a streak of three consecutive French Cup triumphs from 1921 to 1923, and added a fourth in 1928. It was during this period when the club also took steps towards spreading its legend beyond domestic borders, via prestigious friendlies against some of the era’s other giants, such as Boca Juniors and, er, Huddersfield.
Yet Red Star’s achievements a century ago have played a surprisingly small role in their affectionate adoption by fans around the globe. Ask older aficionados to list Red Star’s honours, or the younger enthusiasts turning them into the ultimate nouveau hipster side de nos jours, and you’ll most likely be met by a wall of silence.
The enduring fondness and fascination that Red Star inspire is not due to past glories but the implausibly high number of peculiarities attached to the club, and the unique role – in France, at least – that they play in their community. Dwarfed by their extremely noisy neighbours, they were eclipsed long ago on most metrics not only by Paris Saint-Germain but Saint-Etienne, Marseille and two dozen other clubs. They currently play in France’s third division and attract average crowds
