Last week came the sad news that Stade Bauer, mythical stadium of once-proud Red Star has been closed to the public in its current form definitively.
Whose fault ? Difficult to pronounce a decision, because for over ten years now, we have gone from optimism to despair, in the hope of seeing Red Star play at a new Bauer. Red Star of Saint-Ouen. Unless there is a reversal of the current situation, perhaps for the Olympic Games of 2008, new generations of top footballers will never tread the turf of Bauer. Never again the likes of Ronaldo, the last ever great player to have set foot in the historic stadium, in June 1998.
In Spring 1998, Red Star 93 still clinging on to the vestiges of the D2. Bauer is living its last moments. The League refuses to authorise the first team to play in the old stadium, outdated and outmoded. And unsafe. A solution ? In the supposed wait for renovation, the club is to play its games at Stade Marville, fifteen minutes away but light years away in terms of atmosphere. Three "temporary" stands are erected, in order to satisfy the criteria for the D2. 10 000 places, but no soul. Just as plans are being drawn for Bauer Mark Two, the Stade de France raises its' head. The World Cup will be over, and the 80 000-capacity centrepiece of the competition is looking for a resident club. Only Paris SG are capable of coming anywhere near filling the ground, but in the end the club opts to remain at the Pace des Princes.
As the only club in the D2 in the region Ile de France, and more importantly the region of Seine-Saint-Denis where sits the stadium, Red Star 93 are proposed to be the resident club. With the possibility of promotion to D1, Red Star have the backing of Sports Minister Marie-Georges Buffet, representative of a government constrained to pay large sums of compensation money to the consortium controlling the Stade de France. A fall-out of the deal signed between the then Prime Minster Eduard Balladour. The press catch on, and ridiculous sulmas are bandied about concerning Red Stars' future budget, new sponsors etc etc.
The rest of the story is history. A disastrous season in D2 at Marville culminating in relegation to the National (D3). Other than one famous day out at the Stade de France for a match Red Star 93 v Saint-Etienne in March 99, the once-proud club of Saint-Ouen flounder far from its roots. In 2000 Red Star belatedly celebrated its' Centenary with a gala night at the Stade de France, but already realism sets in and the Stade de France is put onto a backburner at least in the forseeable future. During the Centenary bash, a petition circulates for a new Stade Bauer at Saint-Ouen....
Meanwile for the supporters of Bauer the agony continues...
In conclusion - since leaving Bauer, Red Star have gone from bad to worse.