Rugby fans should find (a little) the atmosphere in the stadiums for the final stages of the Top 14. The implementation of the health pass, specified this Tuesday in Le Parisien by the government, makes it possible to organize again events open to the public.
For the first phase of deconfinement, since May 19, it is already possible to accommodate 1,000 spectators, provided that the curfew currently set at 9 p.m. is respected.
This will therefore be the case for the Top 14 matches during the day this Saturday, May 29 and for the semi-finals of ProD2 (Perpignan-Oyonnax and Vannes-Biarritz), Sunday afternoon.
But shocks like Stade Français-Lyon, this Friday at 8.45 p.m., or Toulouse-Clermont, Saturday at 9 p.m., will still be played behind closed doors.
Just like the multiplex of the last day, Saturday June 5 at 9 p.m.
No time for a beer!
On the other hand, with the second phase of deconfinement and the establishment of the sanitary pass, on June 9, the noose is loosening a little for the public.
The gauge increases to 5,000 spectators for outdoor events, and the curfew is pushed back to 11 pm.
A godsend for the National Rugby League (LNR), which organizes the finals of the Top 14 after this date.
The play-offs (quarter-final) - opposing the 3rd to the 6th and the 4th to the 5th of the Top 14 - are in fact scheduled for Friday June 11 and Saturday June 12 at 9 p.m.
The semi-finals, the following weekend in Lille, will take place on June 18 and 19 at 9 p.m.
And the final, on Friday June 25 at the Stade de France, still at 9 p.m.
To read also Can Toulouse achieve the double European Cup-Top 14?
In theory, therefore, nothing stands in the way of the arrival of a small audience. An certainly symbolic affluence, in a Stade de France which would be sparse with these 5,000 people in an enclosure of 80,000 seats, but which would have the merit of pleasing a handful of fans at the end of a complicated season. Even if they will not have time to share a beer after the meeting.
There is indeed one detail to be clarified concerning the curfew.
This being fixed at 11 pm, the timing will be tight for the public at the end of these meetings.
Even if emptying a stadium of 5,000 people is of course much faster than a stadium of 80,000. "For a match at 8:45 pm, it's over at 10:30 pm, that leaves people half an hour to leave", estimates a source close to the NRL.
From there to imagine a slight advance in schedules, there is a step, which has not yet been taken, and which must be decided with the broadcaster, Canal +.
And we must also hope that there is no extension ...
No exemption from the curfew for the moment
One thing is certain: no request for an exemption from the curfew has been made to the authorities by the NRL for the moment for these matches. We would have made it clear to the organizers that there would not be any granted anyway. No exemption has thus been allowed from the current 9 p.m. curfew for any sporting or cultural event. But perhaps we put, without saying it, on a certain tolerance of the authorities vis-a-vis the respect of the curfew, as we could see it after the festivities in the North following the title of Lille in Ligue 1 ...
