THE IRANIAN
News & Views
Iranians borrowing pastry school to prove they're no cream puffs
YSSINGEAUX, France (May 29, 1998 - AP) -- At France's highest seat of pastry -- the Ecole Nationale Superieure de la Patisserie -- the wine cellar is locked and women on the staff have been sent on leave.
The Iranians are coming.
This pleasant little town of 7,000 in the heart of France, dominated by stone church towers and a giant fluorescent cross on the overlooking hill, is the base for Iran's World Cup soccer team. Iranian authorities have asked for all immediate temptation to be removed.
Thirty players and trainers will occupy the pastry school, a 19th century castle crammed with high-tech cuisine gear. French police are settling into the new annex laboratories and classrooms.
"We're perfect for them," explained Mayor Jacques Barrot, a former Cabinet minister who pushed hard for the honor. "They'll be isolated here for security. And very, very comfortable."
When Iran qualified last year, the Islamic nation boiled over with joy not seen since the Ayatollah Khomeini returned from France to lead the 1979 Islamic revolution.
On June 21, the team meets the United States, the so-called "Great Satan." Beyond sports circles, some analysts compare that to the pingpong diplomacy that warmed U.S.-China relations under Richard Nixon.
Barrot wanted a team -- any team -- but his first choices went elsewhere. He noted that Yssingeaux (pronounced EEE-san-joe) was near Lyon and not far from Montpellier, where Iran plays its first games, and he got excited.
"We can offer a friendly small-town atmosphere for players under great stress because of their match with the Americans," he said. "And they might teach us something, as well."
The presence of young men from what is sometimes regarded as a pariah state, Barrot said, can change attitudes among townsfolk whose only contact with the wider world is the evening television news.
The Iranian ambassador visited on Christmas Eve to clinch the deal, and late spring classes were canceled so the school could be transformed.
"This, of course, will all disappear," observed Guy Pulat, acting director, with a wistful wave toward the after-hours bar, stocked with vintage cognacs and rare Scotch single malts.
Heavy cooking equipment has been shunted aside to make room for Jacuzzis. Longer beds and cable television were put in the rooms. However, a request for a temporary mosque was quietly ignored.
An Iranian chef will work alongside the French staff, keeping an eye on ingredients.
Despite quickly dismissed rumors that women in town would have to wear veils, sentiment in Yssingeaux leans toward the positive. Curious visitors and reporters are likely to spend money.
Not everyone is thrilled.
"They murder people, like they do in Algeria," said Jeannine Laborie, who runs a bakery downtown across from the Bar des Sports. "You won't find me putting out any Iranian flags."
But most neighboring merchants range from favorable to neutral, and several hasten to note that Madame Laborie sells prefrozen baked goods in a town long famed for its brioches.
Authorities are not sure what to expect. About 500,000 Iranians live in Europe, and at least 70,000 in the United States have sought visas. French activists may try to stage demonstrations.
In fact, few people are likely to see the Iranian team, except when they practice on a field adjacent to the chateau.
Even if coaches allowed them out at night, Yssingeaux is not long on temptation. Except for the weekends at the Midnight or Crypton discos, the brightest light in town is the hilltop cross.
Just south of Saint-Etienne, Yssingeaux is serious soccer country, and many are eager to see some world-class action. Others are simply curious after seminars and films on modern Iran.
At the L'Evidence restaurant, a hip young owner named Jean-Rene Duvillet is looking forward to more customers, a few laughs -- and no trouble.
"Look, everyone has their political ideas, for and against or whatever," he said. "But for the World Cup, they put all that aside. Soccer goes beyond that stuff."
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