For a man who spoke of seagulls and trawlers after he karate-kicked a fan in April 1995 and quoted King Lear when he collected Uefa’s president’s award almost 25 years later, reciting “as flies to wanton boys, we are for the gods”, there is something in the simplicity of what Eric Cantona says now. He pictures himself standing with his mother and aunt, looking into his grandfather’s eyes, and recalls the moment in the deep, slow voice that’s unmistakably his, accent gently French. “It was something…” he begins to say, pausing to seek the right words. Eventually he settles on “emotional” and then he stops, no flourish needed. “It is the story of my family, mine,” he says.
It is some story. In 2007 a suitcase was discovered in Mexico City, where it had been hidden for almost 70 years. Inside they found 126 old rolls of film containing 4,500 negatives; they also found a part of him. Most of the pictures, smuggled out of France when the Nazis arrived, were taken by Robert Capa during the final months of the Spanish civil war. Capa had also been in Argelès-sur-Mer, where 100,000 people fleeing Spain were held in a refugee camp, among them Pedro Raurich, 28, and his 18-year-old girlfriend, Paquita Farnòs.
Written by Sid Lowe
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/nov/19/eric-cantona-democracies-dictatorships-manchester-united-interview under the title “Eric Cantona: ‘Big democracies are, in a way, dictatorships’”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
