‘I must have flashed the headlights 200 or 300’: Stade Brestois driver recounts madcap return from Rennes

For more than three seasons now, he has been at the wheel of the bus that transports the Stade Brestois players. “With the pros, I really only take three trips a year: Lorient, Nantes and Rennes. But I also take it occasionally during home matches, in the evening, to shuttle between the stadium and the hotel, he explains. Otherwise, I will take care of U17 and U19.” At 67, Louis Boulic admits that he did “a good job”. “I love what I do, but I’m a bit lucky,” he smiles.

This former professional firefighter, now retired, is also a familiar face among football fans in the region since he has been on the field, either as a player or coach. “I started at Stade Brestois, from 6 to 13 years old,” recalls the man who was born barely 50 meters from Pen Helen, where the club’s training center stands today. He then played in Coataudon, Saint-Laurent and at Dernieres Cartouches de Carhaix with which he even advanced to the federal level, in D4. Having completed his coaching diplomas, he took a seat on the bench: at Coataudon, again, at Stade Morlaisien and at Milizac, a club now coached by a certain Yohann… Boulic. The son of, also spent time at Stade Brestois where he even occupied the third keeper position behind Steeve Elana and Julien Lachuer.

“I sang ‘Red Tide’ during pre-season camp”

If the Boulic family history is indelibly linked to football, his father almost became a bus driver for Stade Brestois by accident. “When I retired, a former volunteer firefighter colleague asked me to join his transport company, Océlorn, because I was already driving quite a few vehicles and I was responsible for training young people in the fire service. I first took care of a line between Le Conquet and Brest, then the schools… But I didn’t like it very much. And then, one day, he asked me to take care of the stadium. I accepted right away and haven’t stopped since.”

Affectionately nicknamed “Loul” by the players on the team, he has made his own little place, in the shadows, of a family club. It was during a pre-season training camp in Dinard in the summer of 2022 that he began to be adopted. “I had managed to avoid it before, but that year I had no choice. I had to sing a song. So I printed the lyrics on papers that I distributed and sang “Red Tide”. The players followed me, says the sixty-year-old.

“The return from Rennes was extraordinary”

He lives the current season with passion. And the chance to rub shoulders with the current group with rare closeness. “They are really… Pffff! What great boys! There is a real osmosis between everyone: a staff that works hand in hand, very accessible players, and Éric Roy who is a really good guy», assures Louis Boulic. On Sunday, it was he who brought a euphoric team after his spectacular victory in Rennes to Francis-Le Blé. – The return has been extraordinary. You don’t feel the miles slip by when it’s like that, says the driver. We were passed by many supporters on the way. Someone took out their scarves, honked their horns… I must have done that… I don’t know, only the bulbs remember… But at least 200 or 300 flashes of the headlights. Towards Landivisiau we also saw a lady in a field with a lamp and her club flag.”

All this, before being welcomed in Brest, by a committee of hundreds of supporters. “As we got closer, the head of security had information about the number of people that kept increasing… It was crazy. We could see the crowd from afar with all the smoke bombs that were set off when we arrived… And it actually went perfectly, with a lot of vigilance,” testifies the driver. Still stars in my eyes.