This stadium is a special place for me. Almost 20 years ago, on a late summer’s day when the stadium was empty, I participated for the first time in the creation of a stadium display (aka choreography or tifo) with the group of fans. Leading the creation was Dudu who showed me how they were painting huge pieces of cardboard that would then form a mosaic covering the stand on a match day.
That’s when I started to learn about making these displays, flags and painting banners which gradually turned me into at artist.
I’ve seen many games in this stadium and spent numerous hours creating all sorts of banners on empty terraces. Dudu later became my assistant on Share The Word Project.
I painted the portraits of 8 club legends who’ve played here : Maës, Brandao, Théault, Rix, Cauet, Olsen, Paille and Gravelaine. My idea is to share some history, and give something to look at for the fans inside the main stand. But I also wanted the mural to be highly visible from afar with huge white letters spelling out “MALHERBE” – the name of the club.
Thank you to Anthonin from the “Association Stade Malherbe”, and the “Amicale des Anciens” for coming up with a tricky list of just 8 players.
Seb Toussaint 