Jean-Baptiste Sarrazin, with Céline Géraud
After resigning from the French Rugby Federation last month, Serge Blanco is torn between whether or not to stand in the snap elections next June. Invited to “Europe 1 Sport”, the former president of Biarritz Olympique returned to his departure and, more generally, to the current crisis affecting the body.
“Complex.” It is in this term that Serge Blanco perfectly sums up the current situation affecting the French Rugby Federation (FFR). Special guest of the show Europe 1 Sport (every evening from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), the former player of the XV of France had presented his resignation from the body when he had been elected since 2020. This decision followed the rejection, by the rugby clubs in France, of the referendum concerning the replacement of Bernard Laporte. The latter, sentenced to two years in prison suspended for corruption, had withdrawn until his appeal trial, and had proposed Patrick Buisson to succeed him.
But amateur rugby decided otherwise and rejected this proposal, leading to the resignation of nine elected officials from the FFR, including Serge Blanco. “I resigned, even if it was not my first wish, because I think that when you have responsibilities and when a certain number of clubs trust you, it is not easy to let them down” , justified the new consultant from Europe 1 for the 2023 World Cup. This rejection of the referendum was thus perceived by the former president of the League as a request for the resignation of all elected officials.
new elections
After the resignation of Bernard Laporte, the FFR goes it alone, without an official president. Alexandre Martinez, then general treasurer of the body since 2016, was appointed interim president by the steering committee on February 3. New elections are to be held next June. They will also make it possible to “re-elect a dozen members to the steering committee since there has been a resignation of the opposition of nine people”, explained Serge Blanco who evokes a “troubled” period a few months before the start of the FIFA Cup. rugby world to be held in France (September 8 to October 28). Rushed elections to compensate for departures, before the new “big elections” in 2024.
For the best try scorer in the history of the XV of France (38), “we are in a gray area for rugby”. It remains to be seen whether Serge Blanco will be a candidate again, a few months after his resignation. But the former president of Biarritz Olympique wonders: “I have the right to ask myself a few questions, to know what I am going to do in a while. The resignation has been asked. Now another question will arise, that whether or not I’m leaving for a place on the steering committee.” Anyway, “the Pelé of rugby” wants above all that a form of stability be found at the FFR. He hopes that the World Cup will be “positive”, erasing the storm that the Federation is going through.