While football awaits its new shareholder and women’s handball has come under the colors of OGC Nice, it is within the city of Nice’s oval club that things do not seem to be going smoothly anymore, particularly in the relationships between the sports association and the city. Crouch, bind, set… Engage!
It is through an explicit letter that the Rugby Nice Côte d’Azur association, via its President Christian Baldacchino, has sought to set the record straight after a season marked by numerous off-field events leading to the liquidation of the SASP meant to manage the first team playing in Fédérale 1.
The results are in: although the season was relatively successful on the sporting front with a qualification for the finals, it was not the same saga behind the scenes where the SASP’s erratic management—subject to a judicial liquidation declared by the Commercial Court with a heavy deficit—has left both financial and human scars within the club and its leadership, forcing the City Hall to unlock an extraordinary grant to replace the nearly exclusive shareholder who had not deposited the necessary funds for the season.
It all began with a letter sent by a minority of club leaders from Nice to the Mayor of Nice denouncing an incoherent management of a Board of Directors accused of a lack of transparency and many other incompetencies.
The letter seems to have reached its target since the concerned municipal departments, especially sports, have taken charge of the issue to determine what is true and what is false in this case. Thus, a meeting is set between the City Hall of Nice and the RNCA to possibly determine whether what is happening within the club is nothing more than a mere power struggle.
The meeting eventually falters, and lacking the opportunity to explain themselves verbally, the club and its President have decided to respond in writing to the numerous accusations. It is revealed in this letter that each accusation made by certain club members receives a response, which admittedly needs verification, but which at least has the merit of existing.
On the financial side, with accounts overseen by an accountant and an auditor, and with inspections and audits having found no irregularities, it seems that the situation is not as “erratic” as claimed.
So, who or what to believe? Why does the Nice oval find itself again in a turmoil of clannishness and primary individualism, far removed from the exemplary moral values of a team sport known for this!
Clearly, from these writings, a new match is well underway, and while it was thought that the season had ended in the round of 16 against Limoges, it seems it continues behind the scenes for a sizzling-hot summer on the Arboras side.
But to have a match, it requires two teams, and here, everything seems much less clear because although the dispute between a ruling minority and the rest of the association is clear, it is not the same for the City of Nice, about which one can reasonably wonder which side it is on?
Indeed, according to RNCA officials, a solution had been proposed to the Mayor of Nice with the arrival of an investor eager to get involved in Nice rugby after having evolved for a time in Marseilles football.
The standoff seems therefore well underway, to the detriment, as often, of a club that risks paying dearly, emerging weakened from an internal summer struggle that certainly may not allow for serene and diligent preparation for the next season, hoping once again to secure a playoff berth at the end of the pool phase.
The player and sponsorship markets will certainly not wait for the barren Nice quarrels to settle and while some viziers spend their time aiming for the caliph’s seat, the water continues to flow under the Paillon bridges, and only a wise person could predict who benefits from all this and most importantly, who is, or are, the initiators? Because organizing a conspiracy is always enticing, but where there is a Catiline, there is also a Cicero!
History teaches us once again how things end…
