Serge Simon and the FFR furious against locker room bans

Serge Simon, vice-president of the FFR.

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Amateur sport has barely resumed competition when it is already up against the wall.

The practice of rugby - and of all team sports - is severely limited in Gironde and the Bouches du Rhône by prefectural decrees prohibiting the opening of changing rooms for practitioners.

A decision that risks giving ideas to others, much to the despair of Serge Simon, vice-president of the FFR, who fears for the survival of the almost 2,000 amateur clubs in the country.

Before the resumption of the amateur championship matches, the FFR, on the initiative of its vice-president Serge Simon, wished to simplify the procedure in the event of detection of Covid-19 cases https://t.co/yG0SxjiYzA pic.twitter .com / uu49FJIYfQ

- THE TEAM (@lequipe) September 11, 2020

A hundred amateur matches at the federal level had to be postponed last weekend, which marked the resumption of the amateur championships.

What's the problem ?

The problem is the ban on changing rooms before and after matches or training.

Until now we have faced sporadic bans on the part of a mayor or a prefect.

But the novelty is that there are now decrees which concern entire geographic areas, namely Bouches-du-Rhône and Gironde.

And I am told that other prefectures should follow.

This is a very bad signal sent to amateur rugby.

We did a lot of pedagogy with the prefectures and town halls all summer, but here I am afraid of a basic trend that is spreading.

What does the ban on changing rooms change for practitioners?

It is a very impactful decision for the life of the clubs.

Showers are part of the activity.

When you drive two hours to play somewhere and you can't change, that's not an option.

Especially since we will soon arrive in the fall with less favorable weather conditions.

There are teams that will not come and training that will no longer take place, because parents are not going to accept that for their children.

It comes down to banning the practice.

However, the legislator has ruled.

Yes, we can have activities or we do not respect physical distancing.

But at that point, they are allowed in all their dimensions.

A rugby match or training begins in the locker room.

There is something ubiquitous about refusing that.

We are in the nonsense.

What are the consequences for clubs, beyond postponed matches?

The consequences will be dramatic, If we ban the locker rooms, if we ban refreshments, if we keep putting obstacles in the way when we are talking about volunteers who do this in their free time, some of the 1,900 clubs amateurs in France will close.

You have to be a little inciting at a time and stop placing such a heavy responsibility on small amateur structures.

We keep hovering this black cloud, while saying that we must resume sporting activity.

Has the Ministry of Sport reacted?

We intervened with the Minister of Sports who was very clear: yes, we must open the changing rooms to practitioners.

In the regions, the prefects must understand that this is not the solution even if it is undoubtedly a means of removing a thorn in the side.

At some point, the risk / benefit ratio must be assessed.

We know the importance of sports associations for social cohesion.

Physical activity is also known to protect against the flu virus, which is another coronavirus.

Medically, sport is also one of the levers in the fight against the pandemic, you need healthy people to fight the virus.

What solutions are being considered within the Federation's Covid commission?

There are clubs that are trying to find substitute premises, each will try to find a solution to go to shower in another room that will not be the locker room, but all this costs money, so it cannot do it.

I appeal to the government, let's do things that are justified, but don't make cascading decisions that make no sense and that are deadly for our ecosystems.

Take the 5,000-person gauge.

I don't take care of professional rugby, but in a stadium of 30,000 people, you can get a lot of people by respecting simple sanitary measures.

We know how the virus is transmitted, but when we see certain decisions, we sometimes have the impression that it falls on you through the operation of the Holy Spirit.

If we want to ban sport, we must say so, but we are not doing this extremely harmful in-between.

There is something uneasy about this.

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