2023-04-24 04:17:23
Who says new elections to the French Rugby Federation (FFR) says new campaign. Three months after having presented its resignation from the steering committee of the body, the opposition embodied by the Oval Ensemble list presented Saturday twelve candidates to take the seats left vacant at the FFR. A list led by the president of the Ile-de-France Rugby League, Florian Grill, candidate beaten by Bernard Laporte in the 2020 vote, and again claiming to take the reins of the federation in this year of the World Cup in France .
Clubs are called to vote from May 24 to 26 to renew the positions left vacant by the wave of resignations from the management committee on January 27. That day, Bernard Laporte, sentenced to two years in prison suspended in first instance in a corruption case, had chosen to resign after the rejection by referendum with the amateur world of the installation of Patrick Buisson, vice-president, as Deputy Chairman. And if Patrick Buisson announced his candidacy for the post of president on Thursday in a second ballot, which will take place from June 12 to 14, the Grill clan has also put a strategy in place.
Benazzi and Lhermet on the list
First step therefore: integrate the steering committee, a basic condition for claiming to be elected in June during the by-elections. If the two former internationals Serge Blanco and Jean-Claude Skrela left the list to present themselves as independent candidates, Ovale Ensemble relies on a column made up of former internationals Abdelatif Benazzi and Jean-Marc Lhermet, but also the former Sevens rugby player Clémence Gueucier or Sylvain Deroeux, ex-captain of Perpignan and former president of Provale, the players’ union.
“It’s a list of actors in the field, invested in a club, a League or a committee, explains Parisian Today in France Jordan Roux, one of the newcomers in relation to the 2020 election. We also have many connoisseurs of the high level as well as the functioning of institutions or women’s rugby. »
Once elected, the idea is then to bring Florian Grill to the presidency of the FFR. But unless part of the majority changes, Florian Grill would become in the texts leader of a federation dominated by elected officials from Bernard Laporte’s list in 2020. A risk of cohabitation put forward by the majority. “The path of an isolated opposition president to govern with a majority steering committee elected by the clubs until 2024 would make no sense and would be deadly for French rugby”, warns the current management team.
Grill promises to leave Buisson in charge during the Mondial
In December, Florian Grill himself rejected this hypothesis, citing a possibility “which would put French rugby on hold for eight months when the stakes are enormous with the World Cup”. Since then, the position of the president of the Ile-de-France League has evolved, and he says he is ready to let the majority in place manage French rugby until the World Cup.
“Obtaining the World Cup in France is a victory for the current governance, we must have the humility to recognize it, explained Florian Grill on Saturday during the general assembly of Ovale Ensemble in Castelnaudary. It is normal for this success to be completed by the teams in place. It’s up to Patrick Buisson to focus on the next three to five months as we focus our energy on the next 8 to 10 years to relaunch rugby from the ground up, including in villages and medium-sized towns. »
“It’s a position of appeasement, abounds Jordan Roux. We feel that the clubs have something else to think about than this campaign, the objective is to very quickly switch to the World Cup. »
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