The members of the Hommelet Neighbourhood committee in Roubaix had noticed that the local community was veering more and more towards a more marked communitarianism, reinforced by the urban organisation of the neighbourhood that has no centre but is composed of different areas separated by roads, public buildings and industrial wasteland. The local inhabitants wanted a project that would symbolically bring the community to "do something together", a project around an artwork.

The commissioning group wanted to indicate their neighbourhood with a "totem" work to highlight a convivial space in the heart of the neighbourhood.

To indicate the neighbourhood with a strong "totem" work it was decided, after several meetings between Wim Delvoye and the commissioners that the work should represent universal values. The theme of sport was considered the most appropriate in this rather cosmopolitan quarter. The figure of the Discobolus by Miron that the artist "twisted" has become the new symbol of the neighbourhood.