French rugby divided at the dawn of a crucial vote for its future

• From this Monday at 12 p.m., rugby clubs throughout France have three days to vote "yes" or "no" to the appointment of Patrick Buisson as deputy president of the FFR, the time of the implementation withdrawal of Bernard Laporte.

• Opponents of the still president of the Federation, sentenced at first instance to a two-year suspended prison sentence, are calling for a vote of no to push for the organization of a general election.

• The outcome of the vote seems uncertain, as French rugby plays big in this World Cup year at home.

We had almost forgotten it with the setbacks of another president of a large Federation, but the week which opens promises to be crucial for the future of French rugby.

From the opening this Monday of the club vote on the identity of the delegate president of the French Federation (FFR) to the holding of a steering committee on Friday to decide what to do next once the results are known, the next four days will draw the contours of this very important year 2023 with the hosting of the World Cup.

" Yes or no " ?

After the withdrawal of Bernard Laporte, snatched from a hard fight by the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castera and the ethics committee of the FFR, the some 1,900 rugby clubs in the country have very exactly 72 hours, from noon sharp this Monday at the same time Thursday, to make their voices heard.

It is up to them to say whether or not (they can also abstain), they validate the candidacy of Patrick Buisson, proposed by Laporte himself to replace him until they know the result of the appeal of his sentence to two years in prison, suspended, pronounced in December.

Until then vice-president in charge of amateur rugby, this former manager of the Uzès club (Gard) presents the ideal profile for the federal team in place: both a member of the boss's close guard and whose name does not is not associated with current affairs, unlike that of Serge Simon, initially considered for the function.

If the "yes" wins, Buisson will be appointed and will ensure the continuity of the Laporte presidency, whose justice considered at first instance that it led to a "corruption pact" with the businessman and president of Montpellier Mohed Altrad.

The brave man, who said he was "unhappy for Bernard" last Wednesday with AFP, however, assures that he will not be "not the potiche" of the former coach of the XV of France.

"We talked a lot about this trial but the institution was never harmed," he said.

If the "no" wins, then it will be up to the FFR steering committee to decide what happens next.

Two choices will be offered to him: to propose another candidate, and submit him to this same type of vote, or else to put everything back on the table with the organization of a general election, leading to the appointment of a new president of the Federation.

Obviously, it is for this second option that the opposition is campaigning, led by the collective Ovale Ensemble.

Rocks in the garden of Bernard Laporte

Gathered around Florian Grill, an unfortunate candidate by a hair's breadth against Bernard Laporte in 2020, this collective is at open war with the camp in power.

He who already denounced before the Laporte-Altrad trial an operation based on cronyism no longer wants to hear about this management team.

Ovale Ensemble makes this vote around the name of Patrick Buisson a plebiscite for or against Laporte.

With the consequences that this implies on both sides.

During a press conference organized on Friday morning with his supporters, Florian Grill insisted on this point:

If the yes prevails, we will show responsibility.

We will respect him, we will line up behind Patrick Buisson and we will push with him for the unity of rugby.

But if the majority vote is no, the steering committee is expected to be responsible as well.

He will have the obligation to hear the voice of the clubs, and the duty to organize a general election.

It is the only appeasement solution.

»

The president of the Ile-de-France Regional League does not have words harsh enough to describe the state of disrepair in which French rugby finds itself.

"The enormous damage in terms of image" because of the lawsuit, "the finances that go into the wall", "the basic rules of sound and ethical governance that are permanently flouted", without forgetting "the disaster of the organization of France 2023", highlighted by the revelations of

on the management of Claude Atcher, "appointed without consultation or any prior investigation" on the part of the president of the FFR, are so many rocks in the garden of Bernard Laporte.

A few months before a World Cup at home supposed to buffer the domination of France at the planetary level, "it is essential that this Federation which is going downhill be taken in hand", asserts Florian Grill, who calls presidents "to make the choice of ethics".

Give us your three reasons for voting NO that you consider major among the 10 listed.

Example: 4 - 2 - 6!

#VoteNO #SaySTOP pic.twitter.com/KqYa7WqnCL

— Oval Ensemble (@Ovale_Ensemble) January 20, 2023

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The battle promises to be fierce this week between the two camps.

It has even already begun, according to the leader of Ovale Ensemble, who recognizes "doubts" about securing the ballot.

The Federal Bureau of the FFR has entrusted the supervision of the smooth running of this electronic vote to the ethics committee.

But the opposition complains of not having access to the actual list of voting clubs (only those who have activated what is called their "GPrez right" will be able to validate their vote), and of not knowing whether the white period of three days before the vote during which no one has the right to call club officers is in effect or not.

"All of this says a lot about the lack of transparency of this vote," Grill breathes.

“Division only leads to failure”

Despite everything, Ovale Ensemble says it is "confident" about its outcome.

"We think that the no has more than the wind in its sails and will win", they say within the collective, which relies on the feedback from its activists all over France.

Patrick Buisson does not see things the same way.

“We are confident because we have an exceptional record, which speaks for us”, proclaims the latter to AFP.

The speech aimed at the base is well established: 

“Division only leads to failure.

I think the clubs are a bit fed up with all this.

They need calm.

It is more the time to meet, to gather and to push behind our XV of France than to live with electoral deadlines.

“The well-being and success of the Blues of Fabien Galthié against the” personal interests “of Florian Grill, in short.

This message finds an echo at the bottom of the pyramid.

“I am not sure that a new election is the solution a few months before a World Cup, replies Frédéric Vaudo, president of the Rugby Club Aubagnais (Fédérale 3).

There is a team in place, with a project that is not just that of one or two men.

Florian Grill is in the wrong fight, he who is so legalistic.

We voted [in 2020] for a list and on this list there was also Patrick Buisson.

»

The doubt of the clubs

To this argument is added that of a certain gap between the turpitudes at the highest summit of the FFR and the daily life of thousands of small clubs, whose priority is elsewhere.

“It goes a little above us, admits Nicolas Chanat, leader of Saint-Pourçain (Regional 2).

It is not because one or the other will be in power that it will change anything about our difficulties, which are to federate on a not very dense territory and to retain licensees.

I take care of my club, and its daily life is not impacted by what is happening above.

»

Although he regrets the bad publicity generated by the legal worries of Bernard Laporte, the Auvergne leader does not want a palace revolution.

“It would be desirable for the yes to win so that we can move on, he says.

The sooner the file is closed, the sooner we can prepare for the World Cup, which will have a positive impact for all the clubs in France.

“And too bad if the net profits of the competition, initially announced around 200 million euros, are now expected, officially, at 68 million.

Even 40, explained

Thursday, because of still undervalued expenses.

See you Friday in Marcoussis

Bruno Carrère, president of Rugby Olympique de Pantin (Regional 2), pleads for a new start.

"There are mistakes that have been made and I believe that to redeem our credibility, it would be good for the clubs to restore their legitimacy to the whole of the new management committee, which will allow it to work calmly", explains he.

A point of view which is not worth a vote, however, since he will rely on the majority opinion within the steering committee of his club, which was to meet this weekend.

Whatever Ovale Ensemble says, the result of the consultation seems very uncertain, like that of the 2020 election. Listening to the leaders of the clubs we consulted, they seem in fact not to have much desire to enter these disputes over governance.

Hence the difficulty of anticipating what they will decide when they vote.

“This is the way we operate in our clubs on a daily basis, we constantly make allowances to try to move forward as well as possible”, explains Sébastien Papillon, the boss of Clamart Rugby 92 (Federal 2).

In this "major" year for French rugby, the latter is campaigning for a kind of peace of the brave, before striking the iron again in 2024.

“It's a bit flawed since it won't be a vote on the ability or not of Patrick Buisson to lead the Federation, but a referendum for or against Bernard Laporte.

In both camps, it would be best to form a common front by putting aside their differences.

Let's succeed in 2023, we will have plenty of time to settle the accounts later, ”he pleads.

A laudable idea, but which one imagines unrealizable.

The day after the announcement of the result of the vote, Friday, the steering committee of the Federation will meet in Marcoussis, in the presence of Amélie Oudéa-Castera, who has invited herself to participate in the discussions.

If the majority vote is no, they promise to be bloody.

In a letter dating from the end of December, Bernard Laporte had announced that he would submit a new name to a new consultation "until the moment when the clubs will legitimize this delegate president by majority".

“I don't even want to consider this hypothesis”, sweeps Florian Grill, who will count on the Minister of Sports to push in the direction of a general election.

But that will remain at the discretion of the team in power.

French rugby may not be about to come out of the brambles.

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• Rugby

• Bernard Laporte

• XV of France

• Amelie Oudea-Castera

• Sport