French soccer club Montepellier is sending jerseys with its name misspelled to Montpelier, Vermont
After French soccer club Montpellier apologized last week for selling jerseys misspelling the city’s name, the team announced Tuesday that it would send the typoed batch across the Atlantic to Montpelier, Vermont.
The president of the Ligue 1 club and the mayor of Montpellier, where the team is based, announced the gift, according to a tweet from the club.
Le Président #Nicollin et le maire de MontpeLLier @saurel2014 l'ont annoncé : Les maillots MontpeLier vont être envoyés à @vtmontpelier ??
— MHSC (@MontpellierHSC) September 12, 2017
“Our office has been in contact with the mayor’s office in Montpellier,” Montpelier Mayor John Hollar confirmed to Boston.com Thursday. “They do intend to ship us the jerseys with the misspelled names, and we are enthusiastic about receiving them.”
In an Associated Press story, Montpelier City Manager Bill Fraser said Thursday tentative plans involve the Montpelier High School soccer teams wearing the jerseys during a game or two, then possibly selling them to the community to benefit the high school.
Montpelier has “a lot of soccer fans generally, a lot of participants in our schools,” according to Hollar. But because of the jersey incident, he recently learned that there are European soccer fans in the smallest U.S. capital as well — including fans of the French Montpellier team.
Montpelier VT soccer fans are excited about the prospect of jerseys from Montpellier. Thank you Mayor Saurel! @saurel2014. @montpellier_
— John Hollar (@mayorhollar) September 13, 2017
Hollar also said that Montpelier is named after the French city, though he does not know why an “l” was dropped.
“Occasionally people mispronounce the name of our city,” he said. “I don’t see misspellings too often.”
The French pronounce the name as “mawn-pe-LYEY,” while the American pronunciation is “mont-PEL-yer”
Spelling and pronounciation differences notwithstanding, Hollar said Vermont’s French Canadian influence gave his city a “beautiful name.”