With this damn virus making the headlines every single day, it’s hard not to get exhausted from hearing about Coronavirus. One person not showing any signs of exhaustion is the RC Lens announcer who will do his job to the bitter end.
The country of France has banned gatherings greater than 1,000 people. This means the French football leagues are playing games either behind closed doors or with limited spectators.
So, during a Ligue 2 match between promotion-seeking RC Lens and bottom-of-the table US Orlèans the stadium sat completely empty. After scoring a goal, RC Lens follows the tradition of the PA announcer declaring the goal and then chanting the goal-scorer’s first name and have crowd chant back the surname.
When RC Lens scored from the spot in the 50th minute, the announcer would be damned if he didn’t announce the goal and chant Florian Sotoca’s first name. The RC Lens announcer could barely get out “Sotoca” without laughing.
The speaker at RC Lens vs US Orléans announces Florian Sotoca’s goal but humorously appears to pretend to forget that the match is being played behind closed doors because of COVID-19 & so nobody chants the player’s surname back. (@BarcaClem) pic.twitter.com/a48HVHskrq
— Get French Football News (@GFFN) March 9, 2020
This is what you call resilience. That announcer will not go quietly into the night. Unfortunately for the rest of us, we didn’t get to hear him announce more goals as RC Lens secured the 1-0 victory.