Paris (AFP)
A Club World Cup in 2022, a shortened Six Nations Tournament ... the president of the LNR Paul Goze detailed Friday with AFP his plan to reform the world calendar.
"Evolutions, not a revolution", explained the boss of French rugby pro, a few days before a meeting of World Rugby in Dublin on the redesign of calendars and a possible North-South alignment.
Q: What do the clubs say about the different scenarios mentioned?
A: "We wish to propose a calendar favorable to all rugbys, in a constructive spirit. They make the same observation as us when faced with something destroying values for French professional rugby. It is for this reason that our approach is a progressive proposal, while being relatively close to what it was done and which meets the demands of the South without penalizing the North. "
Q: What is your proposal?
A: "It starts the championship at the beginning of September until October. From there, we add a date in November for the national teams, for the Nations Cup since it is in November that the three would take place last matches of the competition and the final. So four weekends. Then we resume the championship or the European Cup. In February-March, comes the Six Nations Tournament, over six weeks instead of seven. after the championship and European Cups until the end of the season, around the end of June. We are playing the Nations Cup matches in the South in July. It is inspired by the current season. evolutions, not a revolution. "
Q: What about the Club World Cup?
A: "It would take place every four years, from April 2022, if there is a consensus. Basically, in place of the final stages of the European Cups. There would be five dates grouped together for the Club World Cup. With eight clubs from the North, eight from the South. The formula can be worked on, but what is important is the place it is given in this calendar. "
Q: The Top 14 will have to tighten ...
A: "No, it represents the same number of dates. By winning a date for the Tournament, we release one in November, one also on the European Cup, which has eight instead of nine. We have one more in November with the final of the World so we are about the same number of weeks. What is important is the length of the season, which lasts from September to June. For partners, spectators, broadcasters ..., it has to be a soap opera that lasts over ten months, not something reduced to frenzy over six months. There would be a loss of value and therefore a very significant financial loss, which is not negotiable for us. With our proposal, we check all the boxes requested by the nations of the South and World Rugby while remaining balanced for the North. There is no reason to make a season that satisfies some but sacrifices others."
Q: Start the season in January, is that out of the question?
A: "Ah yes ... I would like to know what that brings. Nothing. Only difficulties and only problems. If we start in January, we play all summer, so with problems in ticketing, television, partners and players' health: our internationals would not play less with this disrupted calendar, their movements would however be more frequent from one hemisphere to another. A shift in the calendars of Top 14 and Pro D2 would jeopardize the link between amateurs and professionals, who would then play in two different periods. We would also find ourselves facing major world sporting events. "
Q: What is the temporality?
A: "We would start in September 2021. We want to make the first Club World Cup in April 2022. We are doing this season as we can do and, hopefully, there are no more health crisis, we start on the new calendar, with a tight tournament, with the Nations Cup if we manage to put it in place ... It is also the only way to preserve the World Cup, which will start on September 9 2023. How do you want to make a season between January and June, a year of World Cup, that the teams will need time to prepare? With a Tournament of the six nations in the middle? In our project, nobody is found excluded Everyone will have to make an effort but everyone's wishes are more or less respected. "
Interview by Nicholas McANALLY
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