Its statutes fit perfectly with the murky waters in the middle of which it has been struggling since the beginning of the year. The French Rugby Federation is not done with confusion, pretense and fool's games. Since the sentencing on December 13 to two years in prison suspended Bernard Laporte, its president since 2016, for corruption and influence peddling by the criminal court of Paris (he appealed in the aftermath), it multiplies the summons to the ballot boxes of its clubs.
A tasty irony when we remember that the main argument of the governance in place to avoid general elections was precisely to avoid elections every four mornings while the World Cup looms in France (September 8-October 28). Yet here we are. The first vote, in the form of a referendum, took place at the end of January to find an interim successor to Bernard Laporte.
A play with a convoluted script
This Wednesday, May 24, until Friday, it will be a question of electing twelve members, currently missing, among the forty of the steering committee. It will then be necessary, from 12 to 14 June, to draw from this herd the future president, for eighteen months only since the real general elections are set for the end of 2024.
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In substance, nothing should really change until then. A few seats will be filled, a chef will be appointed but the road will remain the one traced by Bernard Laporte's team. It all started with the forced withdrawal of the former coach of the Blues under the joint pressure of the ethics committee of the FFR and the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, after his conviction in first instance, on December 13, for having forged a "pact of corruption" with the businessman and president of the Montpellier club Mohed Altrad.
His designated successor, Patrick Buisson, was rejected by the vote of the clubs (51.06%), on 26th January last. Finding himself thus disowned and faced with an impasse, Bernard Laporte resigned the next day, pushed by his faithful who kept power.
The opposition's failed poker move
So much for the first act of a play with uncertain actors and a convoluted script. The rest was in tune. Banking on awareness and hoping for a general election, the nine members of the opposition led by Florian Grill, the president of the Ligue Île-de-France, resigned en bloc, attempting a showdown turned into a failed poker move.
Treasurer Alexandre Martinez, Laporte's front man, was appointed interim president by a board of directors with a freer hand than ever. The turmoil has not stopped. Within the opposition, Serge Blanco and Jean-Claude Skrela have regained their freedom, getting closer to the government without saying so.
If elected, Grill will leave the hand to Buisson until the World Cup
What will happen now? The twelve empty seats on the steering committee (the 9 of the opposition, that of Bernard Laporte and two members of the majority having resigned from their functions well before) will therefore be filled at the end of the vote of the clubs, this Friday, May 26. Florian Grill is a candidate, at the head of a list that includes Abdelatif Benazzi, the former captain of the Blues and Jean-Marc Lhermet, emblematic third line then manager of Clermont.
For their part, Serge Blanco and Jean-Claude Skrela are also running for a seat as free candidates. The team in place, it lets its supporters present themselves as they please. Barring serial defections, it is expected to retain a large majority anyway, since it already has 26 seats.
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It should not be more worried three weeks later after the election of the president, since he will be chosen by the clubs among the forty elected members of the steering committee. Patrick Buisson will be his candidate. Florian Grill will be the one of the opposition if he finds his seat and Serge Blanco could be the third thief.
Whatever the outcome of the vote, it will not fundamentally change governance. A victory for Florian Grill would indeed lead to a cohabitation between a president without much power and an all-powerful steering committee. Moreover, the president of the Île-de-France committee has already declared that, if elected, he would entrust Patrick Buisson with the task of completing the organization of the World Cup in France, because "it would be irresponsible to change a team three months before the event". For all these little people, it will only remain to wait for the general elections, at the end of 2024. The steering committee will then be completely renewed and the president-elect will have free rein.
