"A l'abordage": when OM gives a big nod to its "rival" Toulon on its new third jersey

Olympique de Marseille unveiled its official jerseys for the 2025/2026 season a few days ago . In itself, this doesn't really interest the people of Toulon, especially not Sporting supporters, and even less so those who experienced the glory days of the Azur et Or and the historic rivalry with their Marseille neighbors.

However, the latter were kindly put off when they saw the third outfit, the famous "third jersey" , of the Marseillais. The cause, on a corner of the fabric: a strange boat, with a large banner "boarding!" , which is certainly not unknown to them.

This is in fact a reference to a spectacular sea trip of Marseille supporters on August 28, 1991, for a match at the Mayol stadium against Sporting for the 8th day of the French 1st division championship.

At the time, OM had just lost in the Champions League final, and had not lost a league match. So it was at the top, full of pride and ambition, that 250 supporters from the South Bend armed this small boat, disguised as pirates , for a "filibuster" operation against the harbor of Toulon and its fortress, Mayol , where the "sea derby" would be played in the evening.

Four hours later, the boat entered the most beautiful harbor in Europe , and the horde of sky and white characters was determined to dock and make a splash. A failure. Not only did the CRS and a few Varois reserve a muscular welcome for the small troop , led under good escort to the stadium.

But, to top it all off, Sporting dominated the OM stars on the pitch , thanks to a goal... from former Marseille player Fred Meyrieu . No more. That night, when the Marseille fans packed up and went back to sea, the singing was probably much quieter on the boat...

The reference is not fresh, but the memory of this spectacular trip seems to have remained well anchored in the memories - and in both ports - for OM to decide to engrave it on its third skin. Unless Sporting, who have not faced OM in the league since January 9, 1993, miss their historic rival...