Two years ago, Margaux Huaumé-Danet was playing in Regional 1 at theAG Caen. Friday, May 15, 2020, the midfielder officially learned the rise of his team, Le Havre AC, in Division 1.
After two successful years at the lower level, this Caennaise is propelled to the highest French level. Margaux Huaumé-Danet, just 25 years old, will face Eugénie Le Sommer, Wendie Renard and other Ada Hegerberg.
Read also: Football: the women of Le Havre officially climb into the first division
Sports in Caen: Margaux, your climb into D1 was formalized on May 15, 2020. Is it special to ride like this?
Margaux Huaumé-Danet: It’s sure that the long-awaited moment in a climb is the last game, the night after it. We are not going to live that. Everyone is at home, including the Americans who have returned to the United States. We live the thing by wifi (smile). We still did the work throughout the season, until the end of the championship, and that’s what matters.
You spent only two years in D2. You weren’t far away the first season, and the second was good …
Our first year has taught us a lot. There are games that we should have won but in which we completely missed out. We knew it was prohibited this season. Until the match against Saint-Etienne in December, we had not lost a single match. There was more experience in our heads. It’s very hard to have a perfect season but we have been consistent.
How do we get into D1 so quickly?
Each club probably has its own recipe. With us, cultural diversity has been an important ingredient. We are not going to hide it, Le Havre has recruited a lot of foreigners. Last year, we had Irish, English, American women. This year, there were only Americans, and of course French. The club has invested. We learned from American culture. I think it helped us a lot to get into D1. They have a physical culture that we don’t have. Beyond that, it’s a mentality that has done us a lot of good. We have a very close-knit team thanks to the Americans: they are always in encouragement, always in solidarity.
The other parameter to highlight is our staff. There are probably not a lot of women’s teams with a coach who went through Ligue 1 with the boys (Thierry Uvenard, editor’s note). He has an experience that would be good to take for a men’s team, but he came to the girls. Personally, he transformed my game in two years. The presidents bet on the players but also on the staff. Operation is very professional, like a professional D2 championship.
You already knew this championship with Cormelles and AG Caen. Has it changed since?
It has nothing to do! When I started, at 17 or 18, I was able to get out of it technically because there was waste in front. Now, except for a few clubs at the bottom of the table, the teams are really of quality. It is no coincidence: there are many more professional clubs, many more training sessions, much more technical and athletic quality …
“I don’t realize it’s my job”
So now the D1 is looming …
When I was at the Avant Garde (Caen) in DH, I couldn’t imagine for a moment that I was going to be in D1 two years later. It never crossed my mind. Telling me that I’m going to play against top French and foreign players is … wow! Now I have to work!
What’s going on, is it a dream?
In fact, I know that I am living a dream, but I do not realize it. I don’t realize it’s my job. All the girls are so simple, I feel like it’s like going to the Avant Garde. This is what is beautiful. It allows me to keep my feet on the ground. I tell myself to live the “trick” without taking the lead.
Did you imagine a trajectory like that, little one?
I never said to myself: “I’m going to play in Ligue 1” or “I’m going to play in the France team”. I’m coming to Ligue 1 but it’s also a combination of circumstances and opportunities. Two years ago, I played Le Havre with the Avant Garde without imagining for a moment that I could be recruited. They were in DH like us but were going to go up in D2. Two days later, the coach called me. This is the year I finished my studies (a master at IAE, editor’s note). I didn’t have a job. Le Havre offered me a contract, I told myself that I had nothing to lose and that I had to give it a try. In the end, they managed to transform me into a real footballer, I believe (smile), and here I am for a third year.
Are you surprised that you got there?
I have often been told that I can go far in football, but I have no ambition at all. I am surprised to have been kept in Le Havre for three years. When I arrived, my plan was to be a homeroom. I have been for two years. I put myself a new requirement and it pays. But I know very well that every year it is called into question.
“Malherbe’s section will boost women’s football”
Very often, the graduates in D1 go down immediately. What is the plan to escape it?
When I look at my teammates, sometimes I wonder what I’m doing there with them. They have so much potential! With this team, I don’t see us coming down. There is so much desire to work! We played against Soyaux, a historic D1 team, this year. The score was 1-1 until a quarter of an hour from the end. It was tight. We also beat Metz (relegated this season, editor’s note) 4-0 in a friendly match. Maybe they weren’t thorough, but still … For me, my team is level D1. The club has too much envy, too much ambition to do yo-yo. I am convinced of it. Le Havre will be one of the top clubs for women’s football in a few years.
How do you observe the women’s section of Stade Malherbe?
I am very happy for the region. Anaïs (Bounouar, the SMC coach, editor’s note) and Thierry (Uvenard, Le Havre’s coach, editor’s note) are in regular contact. There is no duality between the two clubs, on the contrary, it is rather solidarity. Everyone has been waiting for years for Malherbe to launch their women’s section. Lower Normandy needs this because we are staying in the regions where there are the least number of licensees. Malherbe’s policy will make it all happen, and maybe one day the big players will want to come and play in Normandy.
At 25, are all hopes allowed to continue to climb the ladder?
I do not know. I’ll see where it takes me. I’m already very happy to have arrived there. I hope to succeed in holding. If this is the case, I can consider that I have had a good race. But I do not take the lead. As President Volpe says, we are going to go step by step.
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