There were many on Friday, June 27, at the Nice Opera House, including former players, club presidents… All came to pay tribute to this great figure of Nice rugby, Marcel Volot, who on the occasion of his 91st birthday received the gold medal of the city of Nice from the hands of Gilles Veissière, the Deputy for Sports, accompanied by a former player of the club, who is none other than the Deputy for Economy, Employment, and Finances, Christian Tordo.
Who is Marcel Volot?
Born on June 27, 1917, a hooker and former international rugby player (five caps in rugby union and two in rugby league for the French team), he is the oldest living French international and a member of the National Ethics Commission of the French Rugby Federation.
After settling in Nice in 1961 as a businessman on Victor Hugo Boulevard and later on Halévy Street, he was also:
– From 1962 to 1971, a coach at the Racing Rugby Club of NICE where he contributed to the club’s promotion to the first division in 1968; he served as general secretary, vice-president, honorary president until 1999, then interim president of the club from 1999 to 2000.
– In 1976, he actively participated in the creation of the Departmental Committee of the French Rugby Federation, which he presided over until 1996. He remains its honorary president.
– Since 1981, vice-president of the Olympic and Sports Departmental Committee of the Alpes-Maritimes, member of the Côte d’Azur Regional Committee of Rugby, and vice-president for nearly fifteen years, sports delegate, and member of the federal events commission at the FFR.
– Awarded the Gold Medal of Youth and Sports and the Gold Medal of the FFR in 1976, the Gold Palm for volunteerism in 2003, the Silver-gilt Medal of the FFR in 2004, a National Order of Merit Officer in 2005, and since Friday, the gold medal of the City of Nice.
