For him, matches against Toulon are never just any other game. Current player for Ciel et Blanc, Gaël Fickou is like an eaglet who left the nest to spread his majestic wings.
Toulouse, Stade Français, Racing 92: the player who might one day become a centurion for the French XV (98 caps) has come a long way from his native Var. But this Saturday, facing his former club RCT (which, ironically, he never represented professionally) will surely have a special taste.
Although nothing is official yet, the 32-year-old center should return to the red and black jersey next season. A comeback that the loyal fans at Mayol had given up hope on, fourteen years after his hasty departure to Stade Toulousain, but it would neatly close the circle in a beautiful way. And thus, bring pride to those who saw him grow here, by the harbor.
“He spent more time at the stadium than at home”
It was indeed in La Seyne that his talent shone straight away. Falling in love with rugby during a training camp organized by RCT, young Gaël followed in the footsteps of his brother Jérémie on Marquet’s side. Didier Bonnabel, one of his first mentors at the Seyne U13s, remembers him as a boy “like nothing seen in a decade”.
“He came from football” (and had actually been contacted by the training centers of Monaco and Sochaux, Editor’s note) He had so many athletic qualities, he could have excelled in anything. Skateboarding, basketball… Either way, he would have shone.” Lucky was the current co-manager of USS’s rugby school to see him choose rugby. “He left football behind. He felt at home at the club. With his brother and colleagues, they spent more time at the stadium than at home.”
“At home”, it was the 5th floor of the Germinal, a tower in the popular district of Berthe, in La Seyne. The youngest of six children, Fickou was raised by a Senegalese father and a French mother. The environment was modest, but life gave him a gift.
Longtime friend and former teammate at La Seyne and Toulon, Corentin Braendlin recounts: “From his first training sessions with us, we could see that Gaël was physically superior. He was tall, athletic, fast, and already technical. We thought, ‘It’s impossible, this guy didn’t just start playing rugby!’”
“Chipo” the “hard worker”
The current second-row at USS, who was a flyhalf back then, saw him “cross the field” every weekend. “He traumatized everyone,” he laughs! “We had a great generation at La Seyne” (Thomas Vernet, Nicolas Plazy…), but he was our X-factor. We knew very well that if he kept his head on his shoulders, barring a catastrophe, he would succeed.”
“He clearly stood out,”, adds Didier Bonnabel. “He had incredible class. He looked like a panther on the field.”
A panther with a well-made head. Behind his big smile, his reputation as a star at Hyères high school and his cockatoo crest – which manager Guy Novès made him shave in Toulouse – “Chipo” (a nickname given by some of his friends from back then… and whose origin remains a secret) is above all a huge “hard worker”. “He has always been quite mature,” says the coach. “Even when he was in the youth center in Hyères and his colleagues went to eat at McDonald’s, he stuck to his diet.”
“I’ve always known him to be determined,” adds his friend. “When he wants something, he goes all out to achieve it.”
Drifting in a minibus and idol of a city
However, don’t be fooled. As precocious as he may be, the harbor kid is still a teenager. “I remember playing in a 7s rugby tournament in Annonay,” recounts “Coco” with a smile. “Gaël didn’t have a license, but he took the club minibus keys and we went to do big drifts in the stadium parking lot.”
These thousands of anecdotes, in La Seyne as in RCT, the French international has probably not forgotten. Like the clubs of his youth, where his name continues to inspire. “When the kids here see him, their eyes light up,” assures the Swiss international. “Young people look up to him. And we, his friends, admire him.”
“He remembers where he comes from,” continues Bonnabel. “He and his brother took over USS for a while when no one wanted to. They also set up the educational project “Môle à crampons” for the young people in the neighborhood. Gaël is a figure in La Seyne.”
In short, a “small prince of the harbor”. Will he be back in his kingdom soon? Before that, there are still some battles to win. And above all, a decisive match to play.
