After making the glory days of the late RRC Nice or Bourg-en-Bresse as a player and then a coach, always in Nice but also in Cannes-Mandelieu, Voiron, and even Russia, it is in Fréjus-Saint-Raphaël that Christian Panzavolta has settled as a coach for this new Fédérale 2 season. Journey of a rugby player not always favored!
He started his rugby journey at the Rugby Club Nice school when the club still trained at the Combes stadium, then became an international Junior and debuted in the first team in 1979, where he played until 1984. Then, it was a move to Bourg-en-Bresse for a season before returning. “When you are far away, you miss Nice.” Then, there were a few comings and goings with Draguignan and St Claude, where he rubbed shoulders with a certain Nick Mallett.
It then became a new career, that of a coach with the juniors of Nice (with players like JB Yahé, Fabien Tujague), then the seniors of Cannes Mandelieu, Voiron, and an unprecedented experience at the time at Krasny yar in Russia. More recently, he created a Rugby section at the Valdeblore high school, where 75 boys and girls, who were not club-licensed, participated in various regional championships, with the girls even qualifying for the finals in Paris.
So it’s a return to the roots for this iconic figure of the Azorean oval who, failing to be a prophet in his own country, will delight the Var neighbors, as he explains to us…
Nice Premium: You will therefore be one of the coaches of the Fréjus St Raphael club next season in Fédérale 2?
Christian Panzavolta: Yes, I will be the coach in charge of the forwards, with Raphi Roggi responsible for the three-quarters. It is a club where I really wanted to evolve given the mindset that prevails in this group. I fought hard to get there because the malignancy among people is great, and my rather notorious reputation did not work in my favor.
Finally, now it’s done, and “all that’s left is to”…
NP: A return very close to the source in a way?
CP: Yes, it’s a return very close to our Azorean source… with a great desire to “show”
NP: A first meeting in Nice, some memories, right?
CP: The calendar isn’t necessarily very “kind” to me. Indeed, a first match in Nice is somewhat special, even though it wasn’t “my” club…
My club was the RRC Nice with MEARELLI, the BUCHET brothers, Roger CHARPENTIER, Jean luc BONY, Didier FELIX, Thierry LANFRANCHI, BOVIS, Thierry RAYNAUD, Michel SINIBALDI—I surely forget some, but that was my club, not Stade Niçois.
But, of course, there will be a bit of emotion arriving at the stadium. For me, not for the CARF club. But the emotion will quickly fade to make the best preparation possible for a championship match.
NP: How do you envision this first season?
CP: This season, the goal will be to do the best possible; we are aiming to maintain with our budget and structure as we cannot compete with the giants like Nice, Nîmes, Hyères-Carqueiranne, Tricastin, or Châteaurenard. We will make do with the means at hand while trying to pull off some “coups”…
NP: Will your international experience (in Russia) be an asset?
CP: Of course, my experience can, and should, be an asset; for that, I need to quickly find my place within the club and group, the relationship with Raphi needs to be established swiftly, but with that, I have no concern; he is as passionate as I am and knows the club much better than I do; he will benefit from my field experience, and I from his within the club.
NP: And why not a return to the city of your beginnings, Nice?
CP: To return to the city of my beginnings, the club leaders, or at least the president, would have had to want it. However, apart from Philippe BUCHET, who allowed me when he was Club Manager, no one proposed it. I surely don’t have the technical, pedagogical, human skills to do it… Or, quite simply, “no one is a prophet in his own country.”
NP: Finally, will Christian Panzavolta be a happy coach if and only if…?
CP: I am already a deeply happy coach, having found a club; I can fulfill my passion for Rugby; I can once again share with a group of players and staff. Now we need to “win” our Sundays, but I am sure that it will come very quickly, perhaps even sooner than we think…
One last thing: in going to Saint Raphael, I found my colors YELLOW AND BLUE, a sign, right?
