Le Bouscat (France) (AFP)
The president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) Bernard Laporte, campaigning for his succession, promised on Monday to amateur clubs that the FFR would "always be there" for them, facing "two-three years very, very difficult" to come because of the Covid-19.
"I say it straight in the eyes of our clubs: they can be quiet over the next four years, we will always be there," Bernard Laporte told reporters at Bouscat, near Bordeaux, where he held his penultimate campaign meeting, in front of leaders of Gironde clubs.
"We have already made a stimulus plan of 35 million (...) And if we have to redo one, we will do it again. We have already anticipated. There is not a club that will close," a -Has he insured from Stade Bordelais, the club where Bernard Laporte began his coaching career in 1993.
"What I hear when club presidents call me (...) is + if you had not been there Bernard, we would no longer be there +", he said.
"Indeed, the sponsors are leaving, I understand, everyone is trying to save themselves, the companies first," he added.
For him, we must expect "two to three very, very difficult years" for amateur rugby.
Bernard Laporte, 56, appeared both calm and combative and said he felt "very good" since he resumed his campaign, after a "not easy" week.
With four other people, including the N.2 of the FFR Serge Simon and the owner of Montpellier (Top 14) Mohed Altrad, the boss of the FFR was taken into custody Tuesday by the Brigade for the repression of economic delinquency ( BRDE) before being released on Wednesday.
The N.1 of French rugby is particularly suspected of having favored Montpellier by intervening with the FFR appeal committee to reduce sanctions against the club at the end of June 2017.
Laporte once again deemed "scandalous" the timing of this custody, a few days before the election, on October 3.
“Everyone, even great statesmen, tell me it's a scandal, but that's how it is,” he said.
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