It was advised, and unfortunately, the facts are here today: the French Rugby Federation has officially communicated by letter to the Nice club its demotion to Fédérale 3 for administrative reasons.
In less bureaucratic language, this means that the club was unable to provide proof, with guarantees to support it, of having the necessary financial coverage to ensure its budget.
The club thus has 10 days to appeal. But with what arguments? The DNACG, which is the financial watchdog of the FFR, wants real guarantees, meaning cash contributions and not vague promises.
A very bad piece of news that definitively dampens the hopes of President Philippe Deffins and his team. But it is clear that instead of dreaming of Pro D2 or Top 14 or even 16, it will probably be necessary to return to the winding path of regional fields, hoping to one day come back to this Fédérale 1, which was supposed to be a starting point and is becoming an endpoint.
A surprise, certainly, but largely anticipated, as the indicators clearly showed that the project to take over Philippe Deffins’ club and the local former stars lacked “nervus rerum,” meaning the necessary finances to make it possible.
We know that fine words, even if well-spoken, last only a moment, and that is exactly what happened on the Arboras side. Power is fatally attractive but sometimes, as in this case, it leads to hell rather than paradise!
Now, we expect the coming weeks to be quite difficult. The general manager, Mr. Astier, whom Philippe Deffins expressly brought from the Paris region and who managed the club daily, is said to be leaving (at least the notice given to his landlord suggests so). With what morale will the players, unpaid for several months and with a bleak future ahead, approach the remaining matches?
And what will be the consequences for the women’s teams, the youth, and the rugby school?
Nice Premium, which has been as attentive as affectionate a witness to the life of the Arboras club since Philippe Deffins took power on the 12th of September, will not fail to follow even more closely the future evolution of this debacle of Nice oval sports. Without bias, but without the slightest concession, and because we cannot let the second most popular sport in France disappear from the Nice scene without saying why and how.
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