Rodez’s plane turns around, match against Guingamp in Ligue 2 postponed

A big scare for the players of the Rodez football team, which plays in Ligue 2. The plane transporting the players to Guingamp had to turn back this Friday, September 2, due to a technical failure. “We are all still shocked. I usually say that I am not afraid of anything, but there… After ten minutes of flight, a very big smoke took hold of the plane. « I couldn’t see ten meters away. It smelled very strongly of burning », told an AFP correspondent Pierre-Olivier Murat, president of Rodez Aveyron Football (RAF), present on board.

According to Pierre-Olivier Murat, his players are not immediately in condition to take a plane. “We are all discussing, managing the stress and the fear of the players, but we are not going to die for a football match”, he said. For his part, Alain Regourd, CEO of the airline Amelia, acknowledged « a release of smoke« . « The pilot followed the protocol to perfection, we turned around, we are dealing with the problem. It was calm on the plane but some players were scared« , he told AFP.

Match postponed

The Guingamp-Rodez match (7th day of Ligue 2), scheduled for Friday at 8:45 p.m. in the Breton city, has been postponed to a later date, announces the Professional Football League (LFP). According to our information, it will not be played this saturday. The Competitions Commission is scheduled to meet next Wednesday. At the end, the clubs will communicate to their supporters and subscribers for a possible refund or a new match date.

In 2004, the Rodez club had already been the victim of an incident during the flight which brought the team to Bastia for a CFA match (4th division). The door of the plane had exploded in full flight over the Mediterranean, sucking two players into the void, finally restrained by their belts. The team had landed in Bastia, unscathed, and had been able to play, and win their match the next day.