In a few weeks, Pool 2 of Fรฉdรฉrale 1 will kick off with an opening day that will see Rugby Nice Cรดte d’Azur travel far from its homeland, to the outskirts of Toulouse, to face Castanet. But aside from the field, it’s behind the scenes where the “fourth half” seems far less fraternal and convivial than the previous one, with palpable tension between the parties involved amidst municipal arbitration that no longer knows where to turn.
No, we will not engage in systematic or partisan criticism as some have permitted themselves to display, for whatever reason, in numerous media and other audiences.
However, it must be noted that the future of Nice rugby is likely hanging by a thread, which we hope will be strong enough to withstand the adverse impacts unflinchingly.
It is known that the liquidation of the SASP dealt a difficult blow and cost for a club to bear, but while financial equilibrium seems to have stabilized again thanks to the providential grant from the City of Nice, the management and leadership are already more than conspicuously at odds.
On one side, a large majority led by President Christian Baldacchino, and on the other, a minority led by a former glory of Nice rugby, Tony Catoni, who does not hesitate to destabilize the club’s governance with virulent public criticisms.
But as they say in these situations: “Res non verba.”
Because criticizing is easy, doing better than others is always possible.
Furthermore, things will not move forward by merely dangling the arrival of potential investors who never declare themselves.
We will not revisit the written or recorded exchanges that unfortunately demonstrate that this oval spirit, which knows so well how to make this sport run smoothly, is not very present.
What will interest us in this new Nice rugby misadventure is, once again, the time wasted fighting, plotting, or destabilizing when it is urgent to build, join forces, and learn to work together for better rugby.
Pooling certain costs with other local clubs, agreements with associations and local institutions (UPE06, JCE, CCI, etc.), partnerships with the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, or a true symbiosis between high-level rugby and the rugby school: wouldn’t all these solutions be more judicious than the nasty letters exchanged while taking care to copy the Mayor and his Deputy for Sports?
It is certainly by repeatedly accusing each other of wanting to kill the club that it will die, and certainly not a glorious death.
Unfortunately, “Victoria concordia crescit” (victory grows through harmony) is evidently not the motto of Nice rugby!
