Jean-Baptiste Sarrazin 20:58 pm, April 17, 2023
It's a little novelty in French sport. The Racing Club Toulonnais will create, this Tuesday, the first "Hall of Fame" in France and the first of world rugby. No less than eight former RCT players will be celebrated including Eric Champ, former third line, who expressed his gratitude to the club in "Europe 1 Sport".The Racing Club de Toulon will become the first French sports club to have its "Pantheon". The rugby club will create a "Hall of Fame" on Tuesday, which will include players who have marked the history of the RCT. For this first induction, eight first players will be celebrated. And among them will be Marcel Baillette, the first captain to have lifted the Shield of Brennus with the RCT, but also Jérôme Gallion, or, more recently, Jonny Wilkinson. Eric Champ, also nicknamed the "Barbarian of the Rade", will be there. Invited in Europe 1 Sport (every evening from 20 pm to 23 pm), the former third line said he was "delighted to enter the heart of this club".
Through this "Hall of Fame", Toulon wishes above all to honor the great men who have made the history of the club. It is also a way to set in stone the names of the players who have counted in the hearts of his supporters. Because the RCT is above all a family as Eric Champ explained at the microphone of Lionel Rosso: "I retain a complete harmony between this city, this Mayol stadium, this public and its players. An audience, which, through the generations, has always loved and recognized its warriors." During this evening, an auction for a charity action will also be organized by the Rugby Heart Toulon Foundation.
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Fan Vote
To choose these eight former players, it was the supporters who first voted. All votes were then confirmed by a Selection Committee that brings together former Toulon players, but also press personalities, members of the FFR, partners or the RCT association, as well as the mayor of Toulon. Eric Champ, who has known only one club and who was a distinguished player from 1979 to 1996, showed his full gratitude to the Mayol public in Europe 1 Sport.
The 60-year-old, now a business leader, remains close to the world of rugby and continues to transmit his passion to the youngest: "Every time I meet a mother with little girls or boys, I tell them put you children in rugby because it is an extraordinary sport. It is the school of life where many friends are made. This sport is open to everyone."