Arrived this morning in the RCA premises, Florian Grill had the opportunity to meet Dominique Marcellei, president of the Corsican League and Marie-Elisabeth Voglimacci, president of the Racing Club Ajaccien. He will then take the road to Bastia, a second of a journey that will lead him to Bonifacio. The opportunity for the boss of French rugby to meet local actors and testify to his support for the development of Ovalie on the island.
It is the first time since 2021, with Bernard Laporte at the time, that the president of the French Rugby Federation went to Corsica. What is the reason for your arrival?
The main axis of our program is the revival of rugby by the base. We are the second sport in France in the media. We even tend to sometimes become the first, especially with the Six Nations tournament, we had huge scores. And we are now that the ninth in number of licensees. Here in Corsica, there are 1,500 licensees, there are 350,000 inhabitants, there is a potential for 3,500 licensees.
A desire to develop Corsican rugby
The former president of the Corsican League, Jean-Simon Savelli, had very good relations with Bernard Laporte. Today is Dominique Marcellesi who is at the head of this league, how are you going to work with him to develop rugby in Corsica?
The president of the Corsican League, Dominique Marcellei, is ultra dynamic and I really want us to develop rugby on the island. So I came to help island clubs to develop. The installations are a good example for the RCA club where there is no handrail around the field, the changing rooms are algecos and we could improve this with the C2E program that we set up with Total Energies or with the years. There is a job to do to relaunch Corsican rugby by the base. What matters is the training, the facilities, the presence of rugby in the school world, then then bring out a better level, but you have to start with the foundations.
“When the clubs of the South League took this very political position to no longer want Corsican clubs, I said that it was not about it, that there was the logic of territorial continuity and that it won.”
A peaceful dialogue with the South League
We know that in 2024, the clubs of the South League requested the exclusion of island clubs. Today how is relations between the South League and the Corsican League going?
When the clubs of the South League took this very political position, I said that there was no question, that there was the logic of territorial continuity and that it won. I packed my fist on the table. Things have so much soothed since. Dominique Marcellei has an appointment with the president of the South League to prepare for next season and things will be fine. I have no doubt about it. Everyone understood where the interest of rugby was.
The issue of security in debates
We recently experienced this drama where Nicolas Haddad, a 15 -year -old, died on the ground last March. Does the FFR provide concrete measures to prevent this type of tragic accident?
This accident, as you say, was an accident. Unfortunately, zero risk does not exist. I have a lot of compassion for the family. The Corsican League was exceptional in this period. The priority of the federation is the safety of practitioners. We work a lot on this. We plead in World Rugby in particular for the lowering of the tackle line, which is a real issue. In clubs, we even develop rugby 5 without shocks, without tackles. We work on all these subjects, but unfortunately, accidents exist and we cannot delete them.
