Gilles Bourdouleix, mayor of Cholet.

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JEAN-SEBASTIEN EVRARD / AFP

  • The Cholet-Boulazac basketball game, counting for the 24th day of Jeep Elite, has been postponed.

  • The mayor, Gilles Bourdouleix, finally evacuated the room half an hour after the theoretical kick-off time.

It should have taken place on Saturday evening at 6.30 p.m.

The Cholet-Boulazac match, scheduled for the 24th day of the Jeep Elite French basketball championship, was finally postponed due to several positive cases among players.

But the decision gave rise to a real imbroglio and an astonishing tussle between the clubs, the National Basketball League (LNB) and the mayor of Cholet.

It all started about an hour before kick-off, when the teams and officials were already there.

The Cholet club learns that it has five positive cases for Covid-19 in its ranks following tests carried out the same morning: three are players, two are members of the staff.

Those concerned are isolated but the rest of the workforce is considered as a "contact case", explains

Le Courrier de l'Ouest

.

Bourdouleix accuses the League

The leaders of the two teams exchange and then agree to cancel the meeting.

But the League, it is not of the same opinion and is campaigning for the match to take place, advance

Le Courrier de l'Ouest

.

Confusion in the room.

At 6.30 p.m., the theoretical kick-off time, no official decision had been taken.

The players warm up on the floor without knowing if they will play or not.

It finally took the intervention of the mayor of Cholet, Gilles Bourdouleix, to whistle the end of a game that will never have started.

Around 6:55 p.m., the mayor took the microphone and announced, visibly irritated, the closure and evacuation of the Meilleraie room.

"I take full responsibility for the cancellation of the match which can not take place under these conditions," he justifies, before criticizing "the irresponsibility of the League" a few minutes later on Twitter.

The LNB confirmed the postponement of the match shortly after 7 p.m.

On its website, she notes that "the presidents of the two clubs have decided not to play the meeting".

"The file will be dealt with as soon as possible," she adds.

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