After the young people of Nice expressed their views yesterday on sports in their city, it’s the turn of the Vice President of the Regional Council, Mr. Patrick Allemand, to share his opinion on the state of sports in Nice and the French Riviera.
The local council member described the situation as “bittersweet,” proposing several ideas to restore the somewhat tarnished sports reputation in local fields.
What is your analysis of sports in Nice and sports activities in Nice?
In summary, there is a huge, poorly exploited potential, unworthy of France’s fifth-largest city. Professional sports in Nice are somewhat reviving from their ashes thanks to exceptional leaders, but we have wasted a lot of time due to often foolish political choices. This city administration has let the RRC Nice, the Nikaïa meeting, and the Tennis Open die. OGC Nice almost followed the same path. It was the mobilization of the supporters and the management team around Maurice Cohen and Gilbert Stellardo that prevented the club from disappearing. The City Hall has been greatly responsible for the club’s misfortunes since 1991.
As for amateur sports, they are the poor relation in Nice. There is a significant lack of local facilities throughout the city. Instead of building new ones, we are destroying the existing ones. For example, two soccer stadiums were lost with the construction of Nikaia, without being replaced. The Pasteur Hall is in a state unworthy of our handball players, and I won’t even mention the Jean Bouin swimming pool, whose entry price is exorbitant and which is deteriorating before our eyes.
Instead of a genuine local policy that would revive sports practice and the social anchoring of sports in Nice, the city invests in fleeting international events. For example, the World Figure Skating Championships were organized in 2000, but the Nice Hockey Club was left to perish. The Davis Cup tennis final was held in 1999, but we lost the NLTC Open, etc. It’s unfortunate, and in this context, the dedication of hundreds of volunteers, who must be encouraged and feel supported by the city, should be acknowledged.
Do you have any ideas on how to improve the management of municipal sports?
They arise from what I just mentioned. Firstly, invest heavily in local facilities to encourage young locals – and the not so young – to engage in sports and to root sports culture in the city. Nice does have a great sports tradition. It just needs to be highlighted more. For this, I would like to give a social grounding to our professional clubs, to make them an identification element for young people in Nice, perhaps by drawing inspiration from what we do in the Region with “sport and discovery” internships.
The city also needs to take responsibility by helping small clubs, giving them proper means to fulfill a real public service mission for our youth. We need to create a Municipal Sports Office that would be a real forum for discussion with all clubs to, alongside the city, implement the choices made with the greatest fairness.
Some guidelines:
– A fundamental focus on physical education from primary school in cooperation with national education.
– Promoting sports and implementing a club structuring policy.
– A real observatory for the use of equipment to allow access to as many people as possible.
– Clear criteria for the distribution of subsidies that merge different parameters: the number of license holders, equipment costs, travel distances, numbers of volunteers, impacted districts, etc., and a significant increase in their overall volume.
What would you name the large football stadium in the Var plain?
You know that I opposed this stadium because the best solution for the city, the club, and its fans seemed to me to be an in situ renovation of the Ray tribune by tribune (cf. the file that I dedicated to it: [link]). But since it is likely that this stadium will be built (though with this city administration, you never know!), I would like it to be named after a sports figure. I am surprised to see names like Garibaldi or Catherine de Ségurane being circulated. The stadium should take the name of the sports figure who best symbolizes OGC Nice. Pancho GONZALES seems to be that person because he ensures the link between our club’s glorious past and present. There are other possibilities: Yeso AMALFI, Jean-Pierre ADAMS, etc., but “Pancho” is our club’s monument.
Your wishes for the new year in local sports?
Beautiful victories for our professional clubs, even deeper anchoring of clubs in the life of working-class neighborhoods, a strong end to the season for the gym… and a secret hope: the revival of rugby in Nice. I am actually trying to contribute to this. The Region funds a rugby school in the eastern districts.
What clubs or athletes do you follow in Nice?
I regularly follow all the results of the clubs that represent the city of Nice, even if I do not always have the time to respond to all invitations. It’s been a while since I planned to watch the Nice Volley Ball – which is having a very good season and is still in contention for the playoffs – without finding the time. However, I very often go to the Ray Stadium to watch the Gym play and I have a soft spot for CSC Vieux-Nice, which I will watch play soon – I promised its president, Max Payan.
I am also a fan of boxing and regularly attend meetings organized in Nice, whether by Nice Azure Boxe of Daniel Olivieri or by the Nice Pugilist Club of Marc David. The last one I attended, organized by the NPC, was excellent, even if it ended with a very honorable defeat of Denis Saïoni.
Do you yourself practice a sport or a sports activity?
Unfortunately, I don’t have much time anymore, although I recently did a stint as a goalkeeper to help out a 7-a-side football club. It was a chance to verify that I had aged! But I used to cycle a lot at UFOLEP and at FSGT. I stopped competing in 1987 but I learned to be enduring and tenacious. It helps me a lot today.
Your best sport moment this year?
It wasn’t great football, but from an emotional standpoint, I would say the rescue of OGC Nice during the match against Auxerre last May. Otherwise, I mostly remember a boxing match, the most beautiful I’ve seen in a long time: Diego Corrales against Jose Luis Castillo, and the Women’s Tennis Masters final: two Frenchwomen, it was outstanding and deserved. What a match!
