Sport gets a primary place in Martinique. From a young age, children are encouraged to practice or introduced to different sports. Martinican men and women often participate in sports such as running and team sports. In practice and terms of licensees, football/soccer is the most popular sport on the island, but sports such as athletics, basketball, handball, cycling, or swimming are prominent in the number of subscribers.
If you want to talk about originality in Martinique, you should absolutely treat the racing of round skiffs that are very successful with the public. The gigs, wooden boats built for fishing, were also used by fishermen who engaged the challenges of the given course.
Year after year, the hype about these races increases, companies see a way of marketing and local visibility are now sponsoring a skiff that would display their brand. Then, thereafter, the Société des Yoles Rondes structured the round skiff races and became responsible for organizing the Tour of Martinique. For twenty years, gigs unleashed passions. You should go to one stage of the Tour de Martinique des Yoles Rondes to view it.
Another popular sport, football/soccer, is more up in the Caribbean than in metropolitan France. Almost all the men of the island regularly follow a team in the French championship, and despite the distance and time difference, do not miss a television broadcast of their favorite team. Gradually, women were initiated by their companions, husbands, and friends to the sport and developed a taste. The importance of football/soccer is such that when displaying a great match, streets and other public spaces are often deserted.
Younger, football is a social elevator and dedicated to their passion, idol(s), once Henry, Anelka, or Thuram, players with West Indian origin, and now Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo or Lamine Yamal, international icons, make it the most popular sport among young people.
Some managed to emerge from the shadows to integrate professional clubs (Emmanuel Rivière at Saint-Etienne, Johan Hartock at Lyon, and Frédéric Piquionne at Nîmes Olympique).
The team sports (handball, basketball or rugby, and volleyball) are also followed. Basketball met a great success with fans who followed the performance of African-American champions like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Shaquille O'Neal assiduously. The most famous player from Martinique who played in the NBA was Ronny Turiaf.
Tennis and swimming are also popular, where performance tennis player Gael Monfils tennis player with Caribbean origins, and Coralie Balmy, a swimmer formed Martinique who followed in major competitions. Athletics first sport in terms of licensees, has lost its luster, but is still one of the most popular sports on the island.
In addition, the performance of Jamaicans, another island in the Caribbean, can win new licensees who dream of Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Veronica Campbell, or Shelly-Ann Fraser.
Finally, cycling is also a major sport on the island, and the Tour of Martinique is one of the highlights each year. As the Tour de France is played along with, it is common to see the audience follow along, cheering on the exploits of Thomas Voeckler, a local school product in the Tour de France.
Since then, the various doping cases involving the Tour de France have significantly impacted the interest in cycling at the national level.
Among the major sporting events of the year, there is, of course, the Tour de Martinique des Yoles Rondes (round skiffs), but also the Tour Cycliste de la Martinique (cycling event) or the international half-marathon of Fort-de-France. The ball sports played locally remain at the amateur level, and the local teams cannot claim a rise in the national division because of the distance that separates the island from the metropolis.
In football, however, the Martinican teams participate in the Coupe de France and can therefore face French professional clubs. This was also the case of Club Franciscain, beaten by national professional clubs.
Note that the selection of Martinique, called the Matininos, regularly participates as a selection in the Gold Cup Nations Cup of CONCACAF, the federation of North America. However, it cannot compete in the World Cup as the island is not a nation.
In Martinique, it is necessary to dissociate the practice of the sport from the popularity of these. If skiff racing is the most popular sport, in practice, ball sports remain the ones with the most licensees, along with athletics.
Credit photo: semimartinique.com