PArvenued in Federal 2 In 2021, Sar Rugby would have one day had access to the Federal 1. Four seasons later, the dream is not granted; Worse, the club will bring back into Federal 3 at the start of the 2025 school year. The sanction of the FFR fell on February 18. The official reason: “Backment to the obligation to produce accounting and financial documents. The club simply did not transmit its accounting assessment in Paris when it is an obligation. Speaking of “administrative and non -financial sanction”, President Philippe Parnaudeau (1) would like to close the file and go to next season.
Of course, the City, which subsidizes 47,000 euros, is behind it and is stored in its arguments: relegation suits the club and it is for this reason that it did not appeal. “The kilometric costs were huge, the club prefers to go down to be in a hen tightened geographically,” comments Jean-Marie Le Bras, sports assistant. On the accounts, Mayor Hervé Blanché has “nothing to say”. He reassures himself: “On the sporting level, it is not catastrophic, there will be derbies against Saintes, Royan or Puilboreau, it will be exciting and in the right atmosphere. The club is relegated, but everything is fine!
Ni compliant, we completely
No one wonders why the accounting balance sheet has not been transmitted? Officially, the president says that “the file was neither compliant nor complete”. However, any Federal 2 club knows that it has two essential meetings with the FFR each year: mid-September, it is necessary to transmit the provisional budget with, among other things, wages, premiums and mileage allowances (IK) paid to each player; Then in January, the document must be updated with the sums actually paid until December 31 of the previous year and the forecast until June. “It requires rigor,” testify to other clubs that comply with the exercise.
Some do not hesitate to say: “If the SAR has not transmitted anything, it is that it is not clean. And if he did not appeal, it is because he could not provide a ” Réglo ” assessment. President Parenudeau does not deny non-compliance, but does not fully attribute it. “It hadn’t been square for years,” he said as soon as the sanction in February. His predecessor until the end of 2022, Sébastien Liarhart, did not appreciate and alerted the town hall to contradict these allegations. “If we had made mistakes, the club had time to react for two and a half years,” he said, deploring the situation. “The documents that the SAR provided for the time of the former presidency were in accordance with and validated by a chartered accountant. When Sébastien Lienhart left, the accounts were healthy with around 100,000 euros in cash, “explains Jean-Marie Le Bras. A supplier, who is struggling to be paid by the SAR, confirms: “Sébastien Lienhart had given the club to level. »»
It may not be for nothing that the accounting company no longer wanted to follow the club. After several alerts in 2023, she put an end to her collaboration in early 2024. No more question of endorsement for the former treasurer who slammed the door in March 2024.
Safeguard
Despite new rules decreed by the FFR, the SAR has maintained the old practices. There are three ways to pay the players: in match bonuses (not subject to URSSAF up to 149 euros), in salary (to be declared to taxes) and in mileage allowances (IK). This last way is not subject to declaration, but must correspond to real trips. And above all, the FFR caps the IK at 20 % of the budget, “because it is the door open to all excesses. It is a way of obliging clubs to enter into the rank so that the players are officially paid in wages and bonuses, and not in fanciful and swollen IK, ”reports an actor of the rugby environment.
In Rochefort, the club fell into the trap. “Like other clubs, also caught up, the SAR imagined that there would be tolerance,” comments an observer. Inevitably, when the FFR requested the accounting documents by three times at the end of 2024-DEBIT 2025, the club made the deaf ear. Despite a summons which announced a regional relegation 1. Neither the president, nor the vice-president Eddy Estrade, nor the honorary president Pascal Bon, nor the secretary general Jean-François Vanassche attended the disciplinary committee on February 18; They preferred to send the resigning treasurer and his successor to the pipe breaker. The FFR did not like …
“SAR lives above its means. These kinds of clubs should no longer exist “
“On an annual budget of 450,000 euros, there are 40,000 euros of payroll monthly for ten months. The players receive 800 to 1,000 euros per month and the IK can be inflated up to 1,300 euros per month, it’s huge for a federal club 2, “confides a fine connoisseur of the file.
Eponge club
This is how SAR attracts players. “There are two kinds of clubs: the pyramidal clubs that form their workforce and sponges clubs, like that of Rochefort, which has only one employee (the commercial director), who neglect the training, but will plunder the other teams by bait the players with the IKs”, we explain in the departmental oval. Another witness continues: “SAR lives for prestige, there is only one for the first which absorbs 80 % of the budget, it lives above its means. These kinds of clubs should no longer exist. »»
The president may say that “the sanction is not financial”, some comments: “It is not embezzlement, but poor management. “Everyone thinks of the 2014 descent:” There is something unhealthy in the SAR DNA, which is however a historic club. As soon as the club rises, it no longer assumes its expenses and takes the big head. »»
With this relegation and the FFR that watches, will the players be as motivated as before? Some have already announced their departure. We also knew that the two coaches were leaving. SAR is already walking the phone. Will he seduce as much as before?
(1) He did not respond to our requests.
