“The Ile-de-France volleyball festival”: the derby between Plessis-Robinson and Paris-Volley is eagerly awaited

They repeat it often, like a leitmotif, an antiphon. But above all, they prove it every day. At Plessis-Robinson “we don’t have the means, so that means having ideas” smiles Julien Lamy. The general manager of the club promoted to Ligue A and his colleagues have the art of transforming constraints into advantages.

Obliged to relocate the second derby of the name once morest Paris (Saturday 7 p.m.) from its traditional lair of the Espace Omnisports – not adapted to the high level according to the directives of the National Volleyball League which had made it one of the conditions to allow at the club to go up to the elite – at the Charpy room in the 13th arrondissement of the capital, the leaders of the Owls (nickname of the promoted) want to make this meeting “the festival of Ile-de-France volleyball”, announces Lamy.

“We worked with the Île-de-France League,” continues the manager. The region has more than one hundred clubs (Editor’s note: 165), we sent an invitation to each club, more than thirty have already answered us. The idea is that during the break we have these ambassadors pose on the ground for a souvenir photo. These young people will all have their club’s jersey. Île-de-France de France is a land of volleyball with more than 20,000 licensees. We want to show that it can also have big atmospheres in Île-de-France for volleyball. “

French champion with Paris, Clément Bleuze also wore the colors of Plessis-Robinson

The match, which will be broadcast on Volleyball League channels, is expected to be sold out. By midweek, the club had already sold more than 800 seats. “We will probably be sold out,” Lamy savors. This will be our attendance record for a match organized by Le Plessis. “The promoted room, for the moment, can only accommodate 700 seats.

The club also approached its opponent for one night to transform the room. “We are going to cut the large Charpy stand in two, one side will be all yellow in the color of Plessis and the other will be in blue, the color of Paris,” continues the manager who is also a teacher in a college during the week. It will be festive. We will set up small events even if we are limited by the health protocol. For example, spectators will not be able to go and see the players following the match. But we try to find ideas to animate. “

The spectators present at the match will thus be able to discover an “All of Fame” of the 16 players passed by the two clubs among which we find Clément Bleuze, the international passer Yannick Bazin or the 2015 European champion Antonin Rouzier. Posters where the characteristics of the volleyball players will be detailed like in a famous video game.

On the ground, the show will also be there. Spanked, corrected, in 3 sets in the first leg, the Parisians will be keen to take their revenge.