In a few days, France will host the women's handball Euro. In June 2019, it will be the turn of the Women's Football World Cup to take up residence in France. Two major events that can evolve women's sport as a whole. Meeting with Sylvie Pascal-Lagarrigue and Brigitte Henriques, vice-presidents of the two federations concerned.
Between them, they have more than 200 team selections in France. It is without a balloon, but with folders under the arm, and a suit jacket on the shoulders, that they meet around a cafe, on the 49th floor of a Montparnasse Tower hidden under the Parisian fog of this morning -the. Sylvie Pascal-Lagarrigue is already in the bath.
A few days before the start of the women's Euro, the vice-president of the French Handball Federation meets her counterpart of the French Football Federation, Brigitte Henriques, who is preparing for the 2019 Women's World Cup. Two major competitions organized in France, a coincidence of the calendar that everyone could enjoy. "With two events at six-month intervals, this momentum that we are launching is helping to establish a slightly better place for girls in sports, whatever they are," says Sylvie Pascal-Lagarrigue.
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Over the course of the conversation, which will last more than an hour, the two women evoke the stakes of these crucial meetings, but also the brakes, the progress already noted. The former international hand, 58, remembers a time when she evolved in "total anonymity. We were volunteers, when we had to move, we put our hand in the pocket . Brigitte Henriques, eleven years younger, has also known the time when little girls could start the football at adolescence, lack of structures and numbers, because "it was like that" . It is precisely this "it's like that" that the two leaders intend to continue to mitigate, thanks to the upcoming deadlines.
The hand traces the path
Forerunner, French women's handball has inspired football for a long time. With 51% of women on the board of directors, the federation adopted a strategy of diversity from the instances, to then generate repercussions on the ground. "Whether at the level of practice, the place of the leaders, including all the techniques, but also the arbitration," details Sylvie Pascal-Lagarrigue.
Women's football, on the other hand, started from farther away. It was necessary to build the whole sector to finally allow young girls to play every weekend, which was not the case before. "We shook the coconut tree," explains Brigitte Henriques. Since its arrival in 2011 alongside President Noël Le Graët, the workforce has doubled (there are now 165,000 licensed), but it is now to put the means to accompany them.
Exist in the media
World champions in 2003 and 2017, silver in Rio, the French handballers have not entered another dimension so far. "Even being world champions, it's always difficult to convince the media," recognizes for example Sylvie Pascal-Lagarrigue. Bein Sports has bought the rights to the Women's Handball Euro, of which the TF1 group will also broadcast some matches. For the shot, the football has a head start, since Canal + offers since this season all meetings of D1F in full. The World will be to follow on TF1 group. The duo Grégoire Margotton - Bixente Lizarazu is even invited to comment, as for boys.
Conquering a wider audience
An advance that will not prevent some clichés from continuing. For the biggest job of women's sport is certainly to broaden its audience and reduce the criticism based on the heterogeneity of the levels, or comparisons with the boys who have no place to be. And for that, the two big upcoming competitions are crucial. "When we see the technical level of our players, in football as in handball, it's just exceptional. The game is beautiful, you have to show it, explain it, "says Sylvie Pascal-Lagarrigue. The former international has no worries to be made for the attractiveness of the matches of the Blue, but still has to fill the rooms for meetings of other nations present at the Euro in late November, despite a very reasonable tariff policy .
"It's true that we compare all the time, and often those who compare and say they do not like are those who have never come," says Brigitte Henriques. Thanks to the mediatization, we hear less and less this speech. These two competitions will help raise the level, because it's a bit of a virtuous circle. " Still it is necessary that the Blue shine and give desire to the French to follow them beyond the tournament. And that is no longer in the hands and feet of the two leaders, but indeed players.