#Rugby #Controversy #Espoirs #AurillacToulouse #final #FFR #clings #positions #playing #Michelin
Between noon and 6 p.m., the phones heated up, at the same time as there was an outcry this Tuesday, June 7, over the FFR’s choice to designate Nîmes for the Espoirs final between Aurillac and Toulouse.
For the general secretary of the French Rugby Federation, Christian Dullin, it is surprising to see a problem in the organization of an Aurillac-Toulouse final, in Nîmes. “I am surprised that it surprises you when you play a final of the French championship,” said the coach, contacted this Tuesday in the early afternoon by Mountain.
Lyon-Toulouse opens the curtain on the Crabos
“To be clear, it is the competition commission that chooses and, in general, they try to make it as far as possible at the same distance, given that it is about the finals of the French championship”, assures the general secretary of the FFR. “When we play a final, there can be a difference of 50 or 60km, or even a little more”, continues Christian Dullin.
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The Espoirs Aurillac-Toulouse final scheduled for Nîmes: “They don’t respect us, they take us for fools”
In fact, it is not a question of a few kilometers but of a great extra hour for the Cantaliens compared to the Toulousains, knowing that the Haut-Garonne club will have two clubs in the final on the same day on the same field, with their Crabos to oppose those of Lyon, at 2:00 p.m., this Sunday, June 12.
Aurillac beat USAP in the semi-final of the France Espoirs championship.
“Regroup the finals, we’ve been doing this for 30 years”
“That’s why I’m sorry to remind you, but 30 years ago, at the Fed, when a club plays two finals, we try to get them to play in the same place so they don’t multiply their fans and they don’t need to.” make two cars.
Even if it meant playing two finals with the same club, wouldn’t it have been relevant to take advantage of the youth final between Toulouse and Bordeaux? Organize the Aurillac-Toulouse final there, in a place that could have been closer to everyone? Périgueux or Bergerac, for example?
“Listen, if you want to be part of the competition commission to choose the land, it would be a good proposal for us,” Christian Dullin ironically responds to Mountain.
Stade Aurillacois counterproposal
This hypothesis, however, was suggested to the FFR and to Christian Dullin by the president of the Stade Aurillacois association. “We made a counterproposal, even if it means playing two finals with the same club in the same place, on the same ground, which between Bordeaux and Toulouse seems more accessible to us,” Jean Bessière told us on Tuesday.
In Bort as in Millau, the Stadium had emptied an impressive crowd of fans, when the semi-final between Toulouse and Bordeaux had gathered only 1,000 spectators, according to the Midi Olympique.
Earlier in the day, as soon as the venue for the final was announced on the FFR website, the sporting director of the Stade Aurillacois had expressed his anger, describing it as a scandal and disrespect to the Federation regarding – Live from the club of Cantal the choice of Nimes.
Aurillac snatches his ticket to the Espoirs final after a completely crazy success against Perpignan (26-25)
“There were clubs involved to host the final. It seems totally scandalous to us. In Aurillac they take us for idiots, for rednecks. There is a total lack of respect from the Federation to our club”
Walter Olombel (Sports Director of the Aurillacois Stadium)
Following the sporting director, widespread discontent on the part of the Cantal and Auvergne fans manifested itself on social networks. And the mayor of Aurillac, Pierre Mathonier, left a letter addressed to Bernard Laporte, president of the FFR.
The mayor of Aurillac steps forward
In his letter, the elect, also president of the Aurillac Basin Agglomeration Community, expresses “his surprise and astonishment” when he learned that the final would be played in Nîmes “located more than 4 hours by car from Aurillac”.
“As mayor, the question is not whether the meeting takes place closer to Aurillac than Toulouse. It is simply that it takes place in a place that allows many fans to attend this festival of rugby and be able to support, as they deserve. , the Rouge et Bleu”, writes the first magistrate of Aurillac.
FFR: “We are lucky to have the Stade Toulousain twice”
Contacted shortly before 5 pm by Mountain To explain the choice to play this final in Nîmes, the president of the competition committee, Patrick Buisson, assures that he does not understand that the choice of Nîmes does not suit Aurillac.
“Do we have to find a ground anyway? And on top of that we’re lucky enough to have Stade Toulousain twice, we’re going to throw a big party at youth level, it’s good there’s a little bit of world to promote these two.” finals, be it LOU-Toulouse or Aurillac-Toulouse”, irritates Patrick Buisson.
Honestly, if for a final of the French championship we are not able to travel four hours, it is complicated
patrick buisson (Chairman of the Competitions Commission)
The coach thus defends the fact that he has chosen to play two Toulouse games in the same place… in accordance with a request made by the Stade Toulousain.
Toulouse asked us to combine two matches, we combined them. We agreed to this request, where is the harm? If Aurillac had his cadets and juniors in the same place, we would have done the same.
“I saw that there were reactions, I looked at the routes, it is 3:05 a.m. for Toulouse and 4:06 a.m. for Aurillac. Is it serious, an hour, when you are in the final of the French championship? And how many times? Do we ever play a final of the French championship?” insists the president of the competition commission.
Gardois himself, Patrick Buisson denies that this fact has weighed on the election of Nîmes
In fact, however, this extra hour only concerns Aurillac. Based on the Via Michelin site, which served as a reference for Patrick Buisson according to him, Lyon is only 2h36 from Nîmes. Toulouse is at 2:56 and Aurillac at 4:02.
Asked about the fact that he himself is a Gardois and installed in Nîmes could have played a role in the decision to organize the final in the prefecture of this department, Patrick Buisson defends himself and gets carried away: “What do I care? What is in my interest? It’s ridiculous to ask me that. It has absolutely nothing to do with it.”
10 minutes out of time that send Stade Aurillacois to the Espoirs final against Toulouse
Regarding the fact of sounding out all the clubs involved, a fortiori after Toulouse asked to combine two finals, Patrick Buisson argues that “we are still chosen to make decisions.” “Maybe we could have surveyed the clubs, but then we would have had to talk to all three clubs.”
But the leader assured that he does not want to waste time responding “to three people who complain on social networks.”
Michelin as an alternative solution?
At the end of the day, in the ranks of the Stade Aurillacois it was indicated “to work and look for solutions” and therefore without despairing to see the situation evolve for a possible other venue for the final.
Shortly after 6:00 p.m., the Stadium indicated on its site “the ASM club would be about to be retained as a valid and suitable option for everyone.”
An election that would show that despite the FFR’s discourse, the first option posed a problem of fairness. And above all a method that hardly took into account the fans, not even the opinion of all the clubs affected in the first instance.
Jean-Paul Cohade