Even before his re-election as president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR), on October 19, Florian Grill already imagined an “alignment of the planets”, with new successes at the level of the regional Leagues, on November 2, then at World Rugby, on November 14.
The former 2nd or 3rd international line Abdelatif Benazzi, who declared himself on September 8 in Olympic Middayis competing with the Italian Andrea Rinaldi and the Australian Brett Robinson to lead the world oval, in place of the Englishman Bill Beaumont, in office since 2016 and who, after two mandates, will leave his chair. Vice-president of the body and big favorite to succeed Beaumont, the Scotsman John Jeffrey threw in the towel in September, after being let go by his own Federation.
No risk of such a mishap happening to Benazzi (56 years old), vice-president of the FFR delegated internationally, who poses as heir to Albert Ferrasse (1979-1987) and Bernard Lapasset (2008-2016), both first Tricolores to have reigned over world rugby. “France must regain weight internationally, with the candidacy of Abdel Benazzi,” affirms Florian Grill, who had already made this theme one of his main hobbyhorses a year ago, in the middle of the World Cup. organized in our country.
Economic giant, political “dwarf”
While French rugby is an economic giant on a global level, and the powerful Top 14 attracts the best players, the voice of Paris nevertheless struggles to be heard against the Anglo-Saxons and the “Southerners”, as illustrated by the recent controversy surrounding the 20-minute red card.
« “For years, France has been almost non-existent at World Rugby level,” summarizes Jean-Marc Lhermet, Florian Grill’s right-hand man. There are around twenty commissions working on developments in our sport, whether at the level of training, high level, rugby sevens, rules… The first thing was to put representatives of French rugby in these commissions. And now, we want to have weight at the governance level because at the end of the day, when the work is done in the commissions, it must be validated by governance. Here too, there must be greater French weight, hence the candidacy of Abdelatif Benazzi. » »
Benazzi, like Grill and Clotilde Delbos, now treasurer of the FFR, sit on the council of World Rugby, a sort of government where each great power has three seats (not counting the president or vice-president). But at the commission level, it’s a desert, or almost. The trombinoscope is quickly drawn up: Jérémie Lecha (professional rugby committee), Abdelatif Benazzi (regulations committee), Jade Ulutule (high performance rugby sevens committee and rugby athletes committee) and Yann Roubert (professional leagues consultative committee) .
The FFR rises against World Rugby and its orientations
Not a shadow of a Frenchie, however, among the powerful executive committee, which develops and implements World Rugby’s strategy, not really oriented towards philanthropy, and also plays a crucial role in the adoption of new rules or appointments of referees.
“We must be able to make our voice heard when we disagree, as with the famous 20-minute red card,” notes Clotilde Delbos. It is also about counterbalancing an extremely mercantile approach such as selling to CVC. [le fonds d’investissement est entré dans le capital du Tournoi des VI Nations en 2021]. For this, the French and their supporters must be more present at the international level. »
And even for a Tricolor to take the rudder of world rugby, which is sailing towards a direction which is not to the taste of the FFR, as detailed by Jean-Marc Lhermet.
“Transparency” operation
“Today, there is a form of business and financial approach that we do not like,” says the deputy vice-president at high level. Wanting to invest 200 million euros in American rugby is still a very significant sum which we think would be better directed towards supporting the development of Tier 1 nations. [les équipes des VI Nations au nord et du Rugby Championship au sud] and you Tier 2 [Canada, États-Unis, Fidji, Japon, Roumanie, Samoa et Tonga]who are in great difficulty. »
Certainly, the United States will host the Men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031 and the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2031, but for Lhermet, it is not relevant “to go to continents where others have already gone and exhausted themselves, and where we are a drop of water in the ocean. » And that’s not all: “We also want to be much clearer in the way World Rugby is managed, much more transparent and that is why we are proposing the candidacy of Abdelatif Benazzi. »
