The resignation of President Jean-Pierre Escalettes, which occurred in the aftermath, will require the FFF’s Executive Committee to elect an interim President who will convene the electoral bodies next fall for the renewal of the governing bodies.
We met Eric Borghini a few days before the date of this federal meeting, which will take place on July 23rd.
Eric Borghini: Now that the page on the technical management of the French team has been turned with the appointment of Laurent Blanc and his staff, we must address another aspect of the renewal of French football. We need to do this to ensure that certain mistakes are not repeated and that in such cases we have the necessary antibodies to combat them effectively. What happened in South Africa is quite exceptional and frankly unthinkable: I can’t recall a similar situation at the international level. The Knysna episode resembles sheer insubordination, and I would even say it was an episode that goes beyond the bounds of football discipline. I demand that exemplary sanctions be imposed once the appointed Commission of Inquiry has established the nature of the facts and the responsibilities of each party. But the main issue was the management’s incapacity (to anticipate, understand, intervene, sanction…), the ‘bus’ of the French team gave the impression of being a ship adrift with a crew that didn’t even know what it was doing and where it wanted to go. And no one had the authority to intervene and say: Stop, enough is enough!
Nice Premium: Domenech is gone, President Escalettes has resigned, the page is turned. How do you imagine the future of French football?
E.B: Domenech is gone, and that’s a good thing because his reconfirmation after the 2008 European Championship was a very serious mistake, and I believe that decision was the origin of many problems. Since then, the French team started an entropic management that led it to detach from the other components of football, among which I include the press and the public. Tell me what the Domenech management did to create a climate of sympathy around his team. By positioning oneself against everyone, one ends up isolated, and in such cases, only results can save you. Unfortunately, the qualification for the World Cup finals was achieved with difficulty and under well-known conditions (a fraudulent goal against Ireland in the playoff match), and the defeat against Mexico, after a hard-fought draw against Uruguay in South Africa, was the straw that broke an already full camel’s back, with the Anelka episode’s support. And Domenech in all this? Incapable of weighing in on relations with the players and closed off in his personal pride to the point of refusing to shake the hand of the South African coach after the last match. I am certain that with Laurent Blanc and especially with two experienced staff members like Luigi Faccioli and Henri Emile, this would never have happened.
Why did President Escalettes resign? ‘I know Jean-Pierre very well, he is a true gentleman. He is consensual by nature and knows he lacked authority in certain circumstances. He resigned because he understood the need to put out the fire, and let’s not forget that in France, that was the only topic of conversation. Someone needed to sacrifice themselves to give time for reflection. Jean-Pierre Escalettes behaved with dignity, something not everyone can claim. I’ve seen that some “reformers” (who have been with the FFF for a long time and have always endorsed all the decisions made…) suddenly came forward, appearing on all TV channels and in all newspapers. You know very well that some crises are tremendous opportunities for those who know how to take advantage of them!!!
N-P: But what will happen in the immediate future?
E.B: The president of the Amateur League, Fernand Duchaussoy, will assume the interim presidency, and then national elections need to be organized. But first and foremost, we need to reflect on what kind of ‘FFF’ we want and, most importantly, how to lead it. We must start from the reality of the situation: we have 2,100,000 so-called amateur license holders and 1000 professionals. The FFF, let’s not forget, has a public service role delegated to it by the State. Opposing amateurs to professionals makes no sense intellectually and can only be harmful operationally. There cannot be amateur football, which spans from football schools, apprenticeship, to unpaid activity, without professional football, which is both a sporting activity and an economic sector, and vice versa. I always quote the example of the train: there is the locomotive and the wagons, otherwise it is not a train but something else. Amateur football is the base of the pyramid, while the professional sector is the peak, but one cannot exist without the other. We must therefore find a balance so that each plays their role in the general interest.
N-P: What governance do you envisage?
E.B: There are no optimal formulas and even fewer miracle solutions. My idea is that a study commission should address the issue and in a few weeks present us with proposals that will be subject to debate and discussion. What is certain is that many changes are to be expected, and we will have to show modernity to accept new operating methods. We must do this because it is our duty as leaders to be as efficient as possible in the responsibilities that are ours. But I do not accept being told that only those who have made football their profession have the skills to lead it.
Let’s not forget that volunteers are essential because without them there would be no possible organization, neither in clubs nor in the federal bodies. As a man of law, I would like to remind you that the etymology of the word volunteer comes from the Latin “bene volens” which means “well willing”. We must, therefore, start from the positive meaning of the word to draw the necessary consequence: let us accept this gratuity and thank those who offer it to us.
Conclusion and moral: Yes, French football needs to change its skin. How to do it? That is the question posed, and to which no one can give a valid 100% answer.
The organization of social relations is not an exact science; no miracle formula can provide the solution. Social sciences and relationships between people are a difficult path to travel. A perpetually renewed path, yet always without end.
Eric Borghini is one of those who are part of the football family out of love for the game, passion for its environment, perhaps ambition, but certainly out of a spirit of service. Listening to him, one can only observe his sense of experience, his lessons in pragmatism. But what is most appreciated is this “rhetoric of love” that drives people to recognize themselves in what they do by “personal and free” choice, motivating their courage and willpower to go beyond the fragility of the human condition (as the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas said). Can the same be said of professionals who are sometimes the modern version of temple merchants?
