If you think well-compensated pro athletes are immune to the worldwide credit squeeze, think again.
Consider French soccer team Olympique Marseille, whose players had to pony up the cash from their own pockets just to get home after last week's 2-1 loss at Atletico Madrid in a Champions League group stage match.
When the team arrived at Barajas Airport to discover their charter flight was grounded, it was revealed their pilot's credit card had been rejected by oil company Exxon while he was attempting to refuel the plane. Awkward pocket-digging from players and officials ensued.
What to do? The players and coaches passed the hat and came up with the necessary 3,000 euros ($4,090) to buy the fuel.
Marseille Coach Eric Gerets, a former Belgian World Cup player, was not amused.
"I wanted to buy two cigars, but I gave 100 euros, which meant I was not able to smoke today," he said. "I felt as though I was in a film, a bad one. Had we won, I would not have cared, but because we lost it was a little more difficult to take."
An AFP story chalks up the embarrassing situation to an administrative error on Exxon's side, saying the company plans to launch an internal inquiry. Said team travel agent Christophe Villeneuve: "We needed to go home but Exxon were not contactable and [oil company] CLH did not have a great deal of goodwill for us either. So we had to pay in cash which has surely never been done before."
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CAPTAIN Crunch could ground the French soccer team. If they didn't surrender first.
Atro Steals Yer Base
Live, GD
Total Comments (7301)
Im surprised the French team had that much cash on hand......I figured it would have been spent on White Flags
Goodell: Nov 4 is…
Total Comments (6314)
The French national soccer team recently won the World Cup and the European Cup in one cycle, and regularly beats mighty Brazil in key games. The "surrender" and "whilte flags" comments are rooted in ignorance, or perhaps just envy of what this great soccer power has been able to achieve.
Praise Where Praise is Due
Praise Where Praise…
New York , NY
Total Comments (1)
I'm guessing it's rooted in humor, because it's funny.
Helen from Keller
Keller, TX
Total Comments (815)
i dont even know if they had the cash to rack that up
Packa Swagga 93
Total Comments (552)
First of all, it's good to see the extremely literate Fannation users capable of distinguishing between the French National Soccer Team and Olympic Marseille, a soccer team based in Marseille, France.
Second, we shouldn't mock a country that lost more soldiers in a single war than the U.S. has in its entire history. The French suffered six million casaulties in the three years of World War I, equaling 15% of its total population. Mocking them for being quick to surrender is insulting and shows a lack of knowledge about history. They came closer to conquering Europe than anyone else in history during the Napoleonic era, and played a vital role in our country winning its independence from Britain.
j11forbes
Denver , CO
Total Comments (427)
This story is just pityful.
What an **** that Gerets is... Poor little mama's boy could not buy his cigar because he had to pay for gas. Boooo. Poor baby!
Next time, take the bus! It's cheaper.
cmh_phx : 8-8-1
Tempe , AZ
Total Comments (634)
Stop trying to rationalize or teach away the jokes. The French will most likely be the targets of ridicule for a long time still. This is a forum about sports so the casualty toll from past wars isn't necessary. The French have a much better football league than most of the rest of the world, but this is just a funny story. Deal with it.
JohnnyPolo24
Pittsburgh , PA
Total Comments (31)
4 G's for a fill-up?
Welcome to the wonderful world of Exxon
JodysOldMan
Austin, TX
Total Comments (17)
Listen, I'm a soccer fan, I hate america's ignorance in regard to the game. But the Captain Crunch comment was priceless. Lets not take ourselves too seriously.
slambamsam
Seattle , WA
Total Comments (3)
Nice to see an intelligent and historically correct comment. We also would not have won the American Revolution with ou the French. They financed the war, provided troops, officers to train our men and had a relationship with the native americans that we didn't..Of course our own troops and our leaders performed heroically.
train64
Prairieville , LA
Total Comments (27)
Sad story. This crap is getting too far. Oh well but they do have more than enough money for the next trip (hopefully)!
Keeper
La Fayette , GA
Total Comments (1486)
gotta love exxon, what a great company to do business with,
Pawn in Sam's Army
Total Comments (303)
Wow, what's the world coming to when you can't make fun of the French?!?!? My biblical studies have been a bit neglected, but isn't that like the 4th or 5th sign of the apolocalypse?
LucaBrasi
Total Comments (414)
Wow... Someone here is a Genius in the school
Knicks09
Camarillo , CA
Total Comments (493)
Or... They have too much time in there hand, and go to wikipedia
Knicks09
Camarillo , CA
Total Comments (493)
I liked Exxon much better when they were Esso and they put a tiger in your tank.
TeddySalad
Blue Point, NY
Total Comments (257)
Yes, and there's plenty more where that came from ... just log on to www.frognation.com.
Atro Steals Yer Base
Live, GD
Total Comments (7301)
Yea...Olympique Marseille does NOT = French National Team. That being said, these teams are incredibly popular and their stars very well paid. Gerets shouldn't complain about his cigar situation though. How ridiculous to cry over that when everyone else is struggling throughout the world.
JayhawkRock
Lawrence, KS
Total Comments (196)
And the comment by Gerets just confirms that my laughter at the "captain crunch" comment is entirely justifiable.
Just imagine if France had a "Globetrotters" team...the Washington Generals would be at least .500, with most of their wins by forfeit.
JayhawkRock
Lawrence, KS
Total Comments (196)
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