“Should we favor elite sports or those with the most licensees? » asks Franck Raynal. “Or the clubs that are making efforts to promote feminization? Or those who develop disabled sports and adapted practices? » These questions will guide the reflection with a view to the sports conference that the mayor of Pessac announced during his greeting ceremony, Monday January 13. And that he wants to see completed at the end of the first quarter of 2025. “At the latest at the beginning of April. »
It will be discussed this Tuesday, January 21, during the next municipal council, during which the new sports assistant must be elected to replace Benoît Grange, who resigned in December. His successor should be Ludovic Bideau, and it is he who will be responsible for presenting the road map with a view to a reflection which will “put everything on the table”.
Boxe, hand, gym
“Ludovic Bideau knows the sport very well,” explains Franck Raynal. He is a former semi-professional footballer and is very involved in golf and boxing. » Boxing, in fact, is a flagship discipline in Pessac with Ussap, which trained Samuel Kistohurry, bronze medalist at the last European amateur championships. Doesn’t she deserve special treatment?
Should Pessac boxer Samuel Kistohurry, bronze medalist at the last European amateur championships, benefit from priority support? Nothing seems guaranteed.
Archives Thierry David/SO
Same question for the SPUC handball players, currently in D2, but whose subsidies are decreasing. “The clubs are turning to the City in a context where aid from the State, the Region and especially the Department is reduced or eliminated,” replies the mayor. But we won’t be able to make up for everything that’s missing. The discipline with the most licensees in Pessac is gymnastics. Should we neglect it to meet the expectations of elite sport? »
City of Pessac/F. D.
Franck Raynal during the wish ceremony: “We will not be able to compensate for everything that will be missing. »
In short, “there will be necessary arbitrations,” warns the mayor. If he guarantees that aid from the municipality will not decrease – “4 million euros for the entire associative movement excluding CCAS” – and that taxes will not increase, he wants a “transparent” debate with the clubs : “Let them explain to us their ambitions and their priorities. We will see what we are able to support, or not. »
Sponsorship and patronage
This, in a context where the number of licensees has reached the record figure of 17,000 – “a quarter of the population” – since Covid. And while equipment needs are constantly evolving. “A gymnasium must offer services that were not required twenty years ago. The demand for tennis cutlery has increased. For emerging disciplines like padel, it is perhaps up to the private sector to meet demand. The sports which have the greatest opportunity to obtain funding through sponsorship and patronage perhaps have less need for help from the municipality. »
As for the questions of whether Franck Raynal, in office since 2014, is not concerned about these questions a little late, and if he is not concerned about them only in the perspective of the next municipal elections in March 2026, “I do not what to respond to an emergency situation, he said. I just want to give visibility to the clubs, while for the moment, no clear perspective is provided by the State. »
