"La Rabine is a showcase, a stadium in the city center, a little English," Daniel Boraud, Deputy President of the Vannes Olympique Club (VOC), told AFP.
A stadium on a human scale, with narrow stands, in a very Breton atmosphere, between the buildings with slate roofs around the stadium and the masts of the boats anchored in the nearby port.
Currently in the middle of the National 2 classification (4th division), the VOC had its best years there, with three seasons in Ligue 2 (2008-2011) and a League Cup final lost against Bordeaux in 2009. Since then, it rugby is what thrills the Rabine, with the success of RC Vannes, mounted in Pro D2 in 2016 and passed very close to the final to climb into the elite last season.
Here, the sound of binous reigns supreme and RC Vannes can count on the support of 7,000 supporters on average per match, the second influx of Pro D2 behind Bayonne.
A very fair public, which imposes a cathedral silence each time a player, including an opponent, prepares to stop.
"Very intelligent cohabitation"
The national authorities have also spotted the setting: in November, the French women's rugby team came to La Rabine to sweep South Africa 46-3 in a test match and the football team crushed Kazakhstan there. 6-0 in the 2023 World Cup qualifiers.
For Mayor David Robo, in office since 2011, there is no question of choosing.
Is Vannes a city of football or rugby?
"Both my captain," he rejoices.
A la Rabine, the two get along well: “On Friday evening, the RCV teams use the chip shop, on Saturday evening it is the VOC people!
There is a very intelligent cohabitation ”, he assures us.
Some VOC supporters, as well as some sponsors, have switched to RCV as football lost its luster and rugby rose, but "everything is going well", confirms Daniel Boraud.
“They even helped us with the organization in recent days.
For example, we need 200 kg of ice for the players on Monday.
It is with them that I collect them.
Because we in N2, we don't have that available, ”he says.
And the singer who sings the Breton anthem, Bro gozh ma zadoù (Old country of my ancestors, on the same melody as the Welsh anthem that rugby fans know well), before each RCV match, will also come to launch it. Monday.
To promote this cohabitation, the city has equipped the stadium with a hybrid lawn, where the grass wraps around plastic fibers, which retains the flexibility of a natural lawn but is more resistant to tackles and repeated jumps.
Pampered by municipal gardeners, it is in perfect condition, assures Mr. Boraud, while during the 32nd finals at the end of December, several professional teams had deplored the state of the grounds where they were received.
