REPORTING. Antoine Dupont: “We played World Cup finals every day in the garden”… The star player welcomes us to his home

God of the Stadium, on the roof of Olympus, Antoine Dupont keeps his feet on the ground, on his land: welcome to Castelnau-Magnoac (Hautes-Pyrénées). And more precisely at the Barthas estate where the player, still on vacation after a golden Parisian summer, recently received La Dépêche du Midi.

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This is where “Toto” grew up. And it is also here that Antoine, the entrepreneur this time, perpetuates the tradition of his family. This place, a former farm, remained uninhabited for several years. But the Dupont brothers, Clément and Antoine, decided three years ago to relaunch the family business at the cost of major renovations. “At the time, it was a hotel and a restaurant in the summer, and the lodging part was our house when we were little,” says the owner, showing the owner around.

Even if he and his loved ones no longer live within these walls, the visceral attachment is still strong. The roots are here. “Everywhere there was a patch of grass, they played with a ball,” recalls the four-time French champion and double European champion. Over there, he points from the front of the imposing building several centuries old, there were two trees which served as posts. In the garden, the World Cup finals, we played them every day (smile).”

“Lucky to have had this childhood”

A time of carefree time for the man who would later become the star of his sport, notably elected best player in the world in 2021. “At that time, yes you have dreams in mind, but from there to being able to realize them… The number of children who dream of the Stadium or the Blues, there are thousands of them. I had no pretensions to think that this could happen to me one day. And yet.

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Very fulfilled in his life as a sportsman, but also as a city dweller, Antoine Dupont nevertheless poses as a lover of the countryside. And its territory. “It’s when we leave home that we realize all the advantages it has,” he recalls. “When we were little, we found it normal to be able to go outside, run with a ball. We were extremely lucky to have this outdoor childhood.”

When the player needs to recharge his batteries, it is therefore quite naturally to Castelnau-Magnoac that he returns. “Here, I have peace of mind, everyone already knows me as the guy from the village, even if my image has evolved,” he confesses. Nothing could be more normal, then, to have sought to highlight its terroir, with Clément, breeder of black pigs from Bigorre. The brothers share a taste for architecture and decoration, and a family heritage as a hotelier-restaurateur. So when Antoine started looking for a project “other than rugby” that made sense, the idea was not very complicated to find with this relaunch of the field.

A hotelier-restaurateur tradition

“The family helped us, the business plan was my master’s thesis, recalls the player. We worked a lot on the implementation, then we delegated the work, of course, because otherwise we wouldn’t have done it. not come out with the size of the building.” Swimming pool, reception room, bar, terraces, and 17 rooms, there was plenty to do while a restaurant should see the light of day by next year. An ideal setting for hosting seminars or weddings, where Emmanuel Macron or Prince Albert II of Monaco have notably visited. It was two years ago, the day before the start of a stage of the Tour de France from Castelnau-Magnoac.

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Or how to treat yourself to new memories, different from those that come to the surface while continuing the visit with the player. “When I was not good, I went there, under the stairs and it calmed me down,” laughs the player, going upstairs. It was wider than what Harry Potter had (laughs )!”

If the decor has been redone, Antoine Dupont helps the visitor to imagine what his childhood bedroom might have looked like, where he admits that he did not spend too much time. “Homework was done on the dining table, always at the last minute (laughs). On the walls, in my room, there were posters of players everywhere. I went to the tobacco shop in the village to buy rugby magazines I had all the Stade players, (Dan) Carter, (Brian) O’Driscoll, (Adam) Ashley-Cooper… There were only three-quarters in my memory, and not too many. ahead (smile).” Or how to come full circle, now its turn to be displayed in the bedrooms of young rugby fans.