In the context of the “Ambassadors’ Days” held in Nice, Christian Estrosi, Deputy Mayor of Nice and President of Nice Côte d’Azur, awarded a medal to the French champions of RNCA (D2) in the presence of Mr. Perez, Vice President of LNR, Henri Mondino, President of the Côte d’Azur Committee of the FFR, François Baudino, President of CD06 of the FFR, and Christian Baldacchino, President of RNCA. Former internationals and iconic players of Nice rugby were also present: Marcel Volot, André Herrero, Jean-Claude Ballatore, Jeff Tordo, Tony Catoni, and Philippe Buchet.
On the sidelines of this event, the Mayor of Nice publicly announced a municipal project (with public investments and private partners for which the City Hall would be the guarantor) for a professional rugby club to be established shortly. The Mayor of Nice, with always “bold” ambitions for his City (“Daring, more daring, always daring” as Danton said in good revolutionary fashion), set the bar very high by talking about the Top 14!!!
The Grand Stade project will trigger this operation for better exploitation of this facility, whose construction and management costs are reported to be high. For this, the City Hall will need commercial events and successful sports clubs in football and rugby.
To date, neither OGC Nice, with a permanent management deficit, nor RNCA, residing in the amateur elite, can positively meet the sporting and economic expectations of the municipality, which has invested considerable sums in the Grand Stade operation. Therefore, it is necessary to turn the page and equip oneself with the means commensurate with one’s ambitions by launching projects capable of successfully achieving the given objectives.
Regarding the “football” dossier, we do not have elements to speak about, aside from what has been said for some time, namely that the City Hall is searching for investors capable of providing the City’s leading club with a foundation to face the economic constraints that high-level football requires. Meanwhile, and waiting for this rare bird, the current investors Stellardo and Governatori, with cautious management, ensure the service “ad minima.”
A very different situation for rugby
At RNCA, the association, managed by quality volunteers, represents a reliable value with a very efficient rugby school and teams of young players from a high-value education (unfortunately, quite often for the regional neighbor, the Toulon ogre).
As for the senior team, it should be managed by a SASP (a share company). Initially, the recent financial participations by Gilbert Stellardo and his friends and the subsequent involvement of Anglo-Monegasque-Cypriot financier and sponsor Paul White did not achieve the hoped-for success… far from it!
As evidence, the SASP, which had Paul White as the almost exclusive shareholder, ended its administrative life by the decision of the Commercial Court to place it in receivership with everything that entails (passive balance, dissatisfied creditors, etc.) following a risky management that led the club to the brink of financial collapse with possible consequences for the association and the risk of making rugby disappear in Nice, as had already been the case in the late 90s. Hence the need for a temporary takeover of senior activities by the association with a significant special subsidy from the City to address the announced deficit.
And for the future?
The answer is easy and straightforward: a project of this scale requires the necessary expertise to implement and manage it daily. Anyone familiar with modern rugby knows perfectly well that, although money remains the sinew of war and the prerequisite for any strategy, the checkbook alone is not sufficient to guarantee success.
Hence the need for the club to equip itself to do this: in short, to find the right people. Unfortunately, the Mayor of Nice’s announcement first piqued appetites and triggered the ambitions of certain grey eminences… Nothing new under the Nice sun!
A saying goes, “where there’s cheese, there are (too often) rats.” And when the cheese is good parmesan (tasty on the palate and very energizing)… how can we be surprised that candidates of all kinds are jostling at the gate?
Unfortunately, this fact risks already hampering the municipal strategy: because if Nice rugby had such a wealth of sports and managerial skills, then why haven’t the expected results been achieved so far? So, let’s not be deceived, and as it’s so well said in these cases, “if they were that good, it would be known!”
A medium-term project, certainly difficult and costly, will need the best capabilities to maximize the chances of success. These managerial skills exist, and it simply takes making the right choice (why not even getting help from a specialized recruitment firm?) and not falling into the usual opacity and recurring cronyism.
Will the municipal try be (finally) converted in favor of Arboras?
