Manchester United legend Eric Cantona is a man of his word. Two weeks ago, after criticising Western nations for creating the refugee crisis but being slow to take people in, the Frenchman was asked if he would welcome refugees into his home: "Of course, certainly," said Cantona, "and it would be good if the 65 million French people would all be willing to accept them."Talk is cheap. Cantona knows this well, having delivered one of the shortest press conferences of all time in 1995 when he told a room of bemused English journalists: "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea."So naturally, Cantona has taken action: he is going to house a family of refugees himself."I'm organising that with authorities in Marseille," Cantona told France Inter radio. He will provide a family with a small house, garden and food for at least two years, because, "if you house someone who does not have the right to work, then they need to eat too." Damn right, Eric.Cantona added that his own grandparents' experiences as refugees played a part in this decision."My maternal grandparents were Spanish Republicans who fled Franco (during the Spanish Civil War) by crossing the Pyrenees on foot," he explained. "That being our story, it certainly played a role."Since quitting football in his prime at the end of the 1996-97 campaign, Cantona has forged a new career as an actor. While UK viewers may be most familiar with him from those beer adverts where he confuses farmers with footballers, he's taken on more significant roles in his native France. His latest effort, Rois du Monde, is out this week, and sees Cantona rolling around speaking French with a topless blonde. Not that we'd begrudge Eric anything.[TheLocal.FR]
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