Will the great world sports festival endanger the practice of an Olympic discipline (in its 7-a-side formula) in Saint-Ouen?
This is the alert issued by the president of Red Star Rugby, while the Pablo-Neruda stadium will be requisitioned from June to the beginning of October by the organizing committee for the Paris 2024 Games. The field, located a few hundred meters of the future athletes' village, will serve as a parking lot: it will accommodate the fleet of cars allowing guests to be moved from one Olympic site to another during the event.
In June and September, Red Star Rugby training will be relocated to the Landy stadium in Saint-Denis.
The club with around 300 licensees even hopes that the pitch can be approved by the French rugby federation in the event that the Pablo-Neruda stadium is not returned on time.
A few slots were also recovered at the Île des Vannes sports complex.
“If it’s completely damaged, we’ll never get it back.”
But in what condition will the synthetic pitch used by the club be returned by the organizing committee in the fall?
“If it is completely damaged, we will never recover it,” warns President Olivier Garrabos, who has gradually understood the danger threatening the green rectangle.
“When I discovered the subject two years ago, I first thought it was easy to protect: we put floors in and we didn't talk about it anymore.
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It was by discussing with “people in the trade” that the president understood the complexity of the operation: “It is an artificial pitch, which rests on a concrete slab with drains, but in all this only represents “around ten centimeters thick,” continues Olivier Garrabos.
The president therefore asked an acquaintance working in a design office for an oral opinion.
“And I was told that the only possible protection is to install 3 m self-supporting plates that fit together... But that costs as much as redoing the ground!
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He asked the town hall, owner of the stadium, to finance a complete study and obtain firm commitments on the subject before the start of the Games.
A “firm commitment” from Cojo
On February 16, the subject was discussed during a meeting between the Cojo (Games organizing committee) and the senators.
The elected official (PS) of Saint-Ouen, Adel Ziane, questioned Étienne Thobois, the general director of Paris 2024. “And we have a firm commitment from Cojo to rehabilitate the Pablo-Neruda stadium at the beginning of October, recalls the senator .
It is he who will financially take charge of this identical restoration.
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“As soon as the Games are over, an inventory of the land is planned and the commitment is clear, which is to restore it to its original condition as quickly as possible,” insists the municipal councilor.
He announces that if the restoration was not possible from October 1, the provision of slots at the Landy field, in Saint-Denis, will continue.