- Coronavirus Crisis Threatens Sports Club Finances
- To help them survive, supporters from all walks of life have decided to forgo the reimbursement of their subscriptions
It is most often a gesture with symbolic significance, although there are no small symbols. Between 50 and 100 euros abandoned, "a sum that will make us neither poorer nor richer", summed up nicely one of our interlocutors. The seasons of football, rugby, or handball will not resume, the accountants of the professional clubs no longer sleep at night, but the supporters do not want to let them down. A little everywhere, they spread the word: and if we did not ask to be reimbursed for the remaining matches to contribute to our scale to the survival of our heart team?
At Les Burdigalais, one of the four groups of supporters of the UBB, the debate was quickly dispatched. "It all came naturally," says Elodie Richard, the vice-president. We wondered what we could do to make our members aware of the situation. Not one has refused to waive reimbursement of the remaining matches of the 130 members of the association. ” With the friends of Bbunited, only one refusal. But this is a person in financial difficulty who could not afford it. So everyone else paid for him. “It only represents perhaps 300 people out of the 4,000 UBB subscribers in all. But it's a way to send a signal and encourage all the supporters to play the game. They are told "do it like", somewhere ".
UBB supporters call on subscribers not to be reimbursed https://t.co/Q5uZ2FnE3t
- 20 Minutes (@ 20Minutes) April 27, 2020The importance of the small gesture
An initiative welcomed as it should be by Laurent Marti, who recently explained to 20 Minutes that everything was good to take, in such an uncertain period: "we have had a lot of messages of support in Bordeaux and it warms our hearts ... But we also understands that people, companies or individuals, will no longer necessarily have the same means to participate in the life of the club. ” However, some sounds ready, in addition to leaving a small tip this season, to pay a little more for their subscription next year to serve the cause. This is the case of Alexis Ziegler, a fan of Stade Toulousain, who even took five minutes to launch a petition on the Internet in early April. Like him, they are 740 to have transmitted their subscriber number by giving their agreement not to be reimbursed for the big matches remaining, quarter-final of the European Cup at home. included.
"It seems normal to participate in the effort, judge Alexis. We know that the economic situation of the club has become complicated because of the crisis, in addition we risk not playing the European Cup next year, we are almost the most affected of the top 14. So if tomorrow we offers us a slightly more expensive subscription, there is no problem. If everyone makes a small gesture, we will get out of it ”.
He also supports the non-reimbursement of subscriptions for the current season, Didier Gérard, president of the Blue Fox, the group of supporters of Montpellier handball, even thinks that the small group will have to push the walls next year to make room for new subscribers who wish to show their support for a historic tricolor handball club. “Next year we will see if the word solidarity takes on its meaning if we will be more numerous or not. Without being positive, I think it can boost us next year. There, you see, our bus company is at a standstill, and I'm going back to the old MHB matches in a loop! This initiative is a way of showing our love for the club. ”
Unconditional love, since it is the purest. At no time do these very active supporters link their (small) sacrifice to an equivalent effort on the part of the players, even as negotiations stall in the top 14 to arrive at a temporary reduction in remuneration around 30%, essential to the survival of certain clubs (all those for which no patron can put the pot back, by and large). "The gesture that we are waiting for is for them to make us the same season next year," replied elodie Richard, our UBB fan girl. At 13,000 euros the average salary in the top 14, the symbolic significance of the gesture, we come back to it, differs somewhat, however.
The ultras of L1 and L2 football clubs also seem more reluctant to display their generosity without compensation. No doubt they are cooled in their philanthropic desires by the spectacle given by some of their presidents, who remember, have largely appealed to the pool of short-time working, while the players show themselves (too) still very shy at time to lower their wages.
"A gesture by the players would be a strong sign"
An elite club has stepped in, however. Big Up at the Racing club de Strasbourg, which had the courage to offer its 19,000 subscribers to reimburse them for the six games that cannot be played at Meineau, in the form of an immediate payment or to have for next season, while inviting his faithful community to think about a third voice: "Support your club by giving up your compensation".
"I am personally in favor, even if we leave our members free to choose if they want to be reimbursed, reacts Florian Kuhn, President of the Ultras Boys 90, the most important ultra group behind the RCS. But a gesture from the players would be a strong sign in this period when we ask the supporters to be united ”. The latter still take advantage of the crisis to find a slightly more enviable place. While the decision-makers seemed to accommodate themselves without too many regrets to their gradual sidelining of the stadiums, when they did not favor it by prefectural chain orders, they were once again considered to be essential partners in the smooth running of the football industry, which fears a resumption in camera sad as a day of gray sky. In addition to being irreproachable in their support for caregivers on the front line by a quantity of financial and food donations, the supporters do not seem to want to play bad payers, when the TV broadcasters are shelled before even the ringing bugle. It will be necessary to remember it when football will have resumed as before.
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Coronavirus in Bordeaux: UBB supporters groups call on subscribers not to be reimbursed for helping the club
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- RC Strasbourg
- Strasbourg
- Bordeaux
- UBB
- Montpellier Handball
- Coronavirus