More than 200 young people registered for the current season, the football school's numbers doubled in three years, an increasing training volume, the ambition to move up to D1… The association's football section Le Cercle, in Saint-Brieuc, is on the rise. “For two years, everything has been going well,” recognizes Stéphane L'Her, director of the multi-sector association. “But we are victims of our success.”
If the number of participants increases, it is not the same for the management. For its football section, Le Cercle relies on an employee, an apprentice and around twenty volunteers. “As soon as someone is missing, it’s really tense.” As a result, the structure had to refuse around thirty registrations at the start of the season.
An educator attacked
This Wednesday, December 18, a father physically attacked a Cercle educator, accusing him of having “yelled at his son”. A complaint has been filed. An event of this kind has not occurred for years and, for Stéphane L'Her as for Hervé Lesur, the president of the association, it is the symptom of a situation which threatens to degenerate.
The stakes are all the greater as Le Cercle plays a major role in the heart of a political district of the city. “Who is in the neighborhood from Monday to Sunday? », asks Stéphane L’Her, this December 20. “We see young people three times a week,” says Hervé Lesur.
€20,000 in support gone
So, to no longer have to refuse registrations, Le Cercle is looking for solutions. A call for volunteers is launched even though the team is well aware of the difficulties of certain parents. “We are in a poor neighborhood, with people who sometimes have atypical working hours,” recalls Hervé Lesur. “Single-parent families, people who sometimes don’t have a license or no money to fill up.” One of the solutions put in place by the association consists of training young people from the neighborhood. “But it takes time before they are operational.”
Today, we need financial support to be able to have a second employee for football.
This is why Le Cercle was counting heavily on the “1,000 socio-sporting jobs” call for projects launched by the State in March 2024. The prize was €20,000 per year for three years. Enough to finance 60% of a new position for the football section. “We learned at the beginning of June that we were selected,” recalls Stéphane L’Her. “Until a circular, published at the beginning of July, reduced the budget of the call for projects by 50%”. The Circle's candidacy was ultimately rejected.
“Be helped to the extent of the challenge”
Nearly six months later, as the situation becomes more complicated, the association launches an appeal to the Ministry of Youth and Sports and to the prefect of Côtes-d'Armor. “We need financial support to be able to have a second employee for football,” insists Hervé Lesur. “Today, we have equal treatment in supporting football clubs,” notes Stéphane L’Her. “We should rather be in fairness. A club like ours, in a neighborhood like ours, must be helped commensurate with the challenge.” And Le Cercle points out that as a social utility association, it can also receive donations and patronage.
In the absence of aid, the club could be forced to refuse registrations next year or increase the price of membership fees. “But if we do that, we will lose a lot of kids from the neighborhood. And I don’t think it will be good.”
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