Paris (AFP)

Stadium lawns, ice skating rinks, swimming pool hygiene, circuit safety equipment ... during the confinement period, the sports arenas are maintained at least with one objective: to be "operational" as soon as activity resumes.

If professional clubs have, as far as possible, opted for teleworking or short-time working, do not imagine the stadiums deserted.

"There is always a human presence for guarding matters, so there is no need to come and play football," warns Christophe Pierrel, president of Stade Bordeaux-Atlantique (SBA), which manages the Matmut Atlantique des Girondins de Bordeaux.

In Gerland, den of the Lyon rugby club, the LOU, "a security guard is present on site 24 hours a day, as usual," said one.

In addition to avoiding intrusions, this presence makes it possible to ensure "the mandatory monitoring of certain facilities such as swimming pools or the ice rink and to verify that there is no incident", adds Antoine Le Bellec, director of the National Center training at altitude (CNEA) of Font-Romeu, in the Pyrenees.

Some clubs, such as Olympique Lyonnais, "took the opportunity to prepare some heavier maintenance operations", for example the replacement of filters or the emptying of balneotherapy pools.

- "In working order" -

On the whole, however, "this is not major work but superficial maintenance because, when the recovery takes place, the installations must be in working order to start again very quickly", summarizes Jean-Pierre Mougin, president of the National Group of Automobile Circuits, Industrial Test Centers and Associated Professions (GN Caceipa), citing in particular the maintenance of safety barriers.

"We must guarantee that at the end of confinement, everyone will be able to resume a sporting associative life, whatever the level of the club, in this equipment", abounds Marc Sanchez, president of the National Association of Elected Officers in charge of sport (Andes).

In any case, it is impossible to undertake the major works envisaged in the sports facilities managed by local authorities, "the contracts could not have been launched in due time", he continues.

At Roland Garros, all the same, "the work (on the central court on which a roof has been placed) continues in degraded mode", we are told. "On-site providers work under certain security conditions and in line with current regulations."

The maintenance of the courts is not impacted, "if it is not a shift in the planning according to the new dates of the tournament", from September 20 to October 4.

If the weekly falconer's visits to dislodge pigeons from OL's Groupama Stadium have stopped, attention is focused on the lawns, as in all football and rugby clubs.

"We believe this is an essential activity," insists Paul Barber, who heads the football team in Brighton, England. "We do this very minimally, just to make sure the surfaces are maintained, because it's very expensive real estate that we can't let it deteriorate."

"Initially, we had set up a system to minimize the number of interventions but it did not work because the weather is favorable for the development of the grass and, if we do not mow, we do more damage than other thing and we risk ending up with hay on the recovery, "explains Arnaud Denis, director of the agency ID Verde which manages the Auguste-Delaune stadium and the Raymond-Kopa life center at the Stade de Reims.

In addition to mowing and watering, it is also necessary to avoid the start of illness, fungi.

- "The charges almost all there" -

This interview is nevertheless carried out with reduced staff: two and a half people instead of six in Reims, three against twelve at the CNEA of Font-Romeu, one instead of three at the training center of AS Nancy Lorraine ... And all ensure that the necessary barrier measures have been put in place.

At what cost to the owners of these sports facilities?

On the OL side, it is explained that "most of the technical installations have been put on standby in order to limit unnecessary energy consumption". At CNEA, the heating has been lowered "wherever it was possible" but that does not include swimming pools, for example, and "the cold groups on the ice rink rotate as in normal times to keep the ice", notes Antoine Le Bellec.

In addition, "we always pay maintenance contracts to external companies and the salaries of public officials are maintained even if many can no longer work," he continues.

"It doesn't cost much less than maintaining it fully," concludes Christophe Pierrel, in the same vein. In summary, the activity is at zero and the loads are almost all there. "

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