PCR tests are carried out in the grounds of Stade Ernest-Wallon on September 12, 2020. -

Nicolas Stival / 20 Minutes

  • 1,200 PCR tests are available this Saturday at the Ernest-Wallon stadium in Toulouse.

  • In partnership with the political and health authorities, the Stade Toulousain carried out a vast screening operation for the coronavirus.

  • Behind the public health issue, there is also a history of economic interests, assumed by the club.

Prevention posters on barrier gestures to adopt, with advice provided by Red and Black players.

No doubt, this Stade Toulousain - La Rochelle, the first Top 14 match at Ernest-Wallon since February, is under the sign of the Covid-19.

At the initiative of the most successful club in France, a screening operation was even organized this Saturday before, at half-time and after the match, in cooperation with the prefecture of Haute-Garonne, the Toulouse University Hospital and the ARS Occitanie.

"A first in a French rugby stadium", assure the organizers.

An hour before the match, volunteers were already rushing into one of the three centers arranged under marquees in the Walloon enclosure.

“It works very, very well”, according to Jean-Philippe Durrieu Dufaza.

Prevention messages against the spread of the coronavirus, at the Ernest-Wallon stadium in Toulouse.

- Nicolas Stival / 20 Minutes

This doctor from a Toulouse clinic heads several associations of reservists from the army health service.

Some 35 volunteers were ready to run up to 1,200 PCR tests, with results guaranteed within 72 hours at most.

Not bad, knowing that only 4,800 people were expected in the Ernest-Wallon enclosure (19,000 places), due to the limited capacity in a department classified in red.

"The other centers are saturated"

"Many people have been contact subjects, many are worried, many have deadlines, such as having an operation, entering communities or taking planes," explains Dr Durrieu Dufaza.

Eric, him, does not fit into these boxes.

But this 51-year-old stadion supporter, including two decades of passion in Red and Black, has nevertheless decided to lend his nose to science.

“This is really the opportunity that presents itself, admits the fifty-year-old.

The other centers are saturated.

I have no symptoms, but if that helps reassure me and reassure everyone… ”

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https://t.co/fxagoWspxz via @ 20minutes pic.twitter.com/c4Yew9tHHP

- 20 Minutes Toulouse (@ 20minutestoul) September 9, 2020

"It is our role to play on the attractiveness of the Stade Toulousain to offer a public service", asserts Didier Lacroix, of which about fifty employees have been invited to take part in the initiative.

The club president readily admits that in fact there is also another objective behind this operation, which concerns him in the first place.

“We need, including economically, to return below the fateful green or red light bar.

In other words, that the department goes back to green as quickly as possible, which would mean that the virus is circulating much less than today.

This would allow Stade Toulousain to request prefectural exemptions to further fill its enclosure, and thus breathe new life into its budget, 75% dependent on the presence of the public and partners during home meetings.

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It's happening at Ernest-Wallon on Saturday

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