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Sarkozy chooses French Cup final over night with wife

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-12 11:13

It is a dilemma with which many men are familiar: the football or the family? But when President Sarkozy let it be known he was to miss the French Cup final for an evening with Carla Bruni, his wife, it took on a new dimension.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (C) attends the French Cup final soccer match between Guingamp and Stade Rennes at the Stade de France Stadium in Saint-Denis, near Paris, May 9, 2009. [Agencies]

As outrage greeted an announcement seen as an insult to tradition, to football and to Brittany, the region that provided the two finalists, Mr Sarkozy was forced to perform a last-minute U-turn.

He abandoned plans to spend the weekend with Ms Bruni at her family’s villa on the C?te d’Azur and returned to Paris in time to see the game and present the cup to Guingamp, the second-division side that beat Rennes, from the first division, 2-1 in the biggest Gallic cup upset for 50 years.

“I am passionate about football,” the head of state said as he tried to appease Breton anger. “It was important for me to be here.”

But by then the damage had largely been done.

After travelling to southern France on Friday to pay homage to the soldiers from France’s African colonies who landed in Provence in August 1944 to open a second front against the Nazis, Mr Sarkozy stayed on under the Riviera sun.

Aides said that he wanted to spend Saturday in the nine-bedroom villa in Cap Nègre on the C?te d’Azur that belongs to his wife’s family before flying to meet Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, in Berlin yesterday.

That meant breaking a tradition that dates from 1927, when Gaston Doumergue was the first French head of state to present the Coupe de France. Officials said that Bernard Laporte, the Sports Minister, would stand in for Mr Sarkozy.

File photo shows France's first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. [Agencies]

But critics said that his planned absence highlighted his disdain for provincial France and for protocol. Le Télégramme de Brest, Brittany’s regional daily, said that the episode would damage relations between the Celtic region and head of state, who was born and brought up in an affluent Paris suburb and supports Paris Saint-Germain, the capital’s team.

It reminded readers that he was reported to have cut short a visit to Brittany during the 2007 presidential election campaign with the remark: “I don’t give a damn about Bretons.” Marilyse Lebranchu, a Breton opposition MP, said: “Either he’s on holiday and he should have said clearly, ‘I’m tired and I need time off’, or else there’s no major reason to miss the match and it’s shocking.”

She suggested that Mr Sarkozy was afraid of being booed and whistled, as he was during the French League Cup final between Bordeaux and Vannes.

In a sign that Mr Sarkozy is having to soften his headstrong character as the economic crisis bites into his popularity, he bowed to the pressure and gave up his Mediterranean evening with the supermodel-turned-singer who became his third wife last year.

Three hours before the final was due to start, he issued a statement to say that he would be at the Stade de France, forcing officials into a hasty rearrangement of the VIP seating. But he failed to uphold part of the presidential tradition by declining to shake players’ hands before the game.

Detractors said that he was concerned that his presence on the pitch would have provoked a chorus of boos from the fans.