On Liberté FM, the former Girondins de Bordeaux full-back,
François Grenetcandidate for President of the LFNA, responded to the question of whether currently the Nouvelle Aquitaine Football League was “a field of ruins”.
“The word is perhaps too strong. In terms of its elite and its locomotives, that's the least we can say. For the rest, I don't agree, it's not a field of ruins. There is a lot of work, but our football is suffering, yes. We didn't choose it, but we are the largest region in France, it is as big as Austria… We have a football territory which is a football of territories. There is a statistic that is quite telling on this subject. The LFNA is between 1200 and 1300 clubs, and there are more than 700 which have fewer than 100 licensees. The truth is there. It is a largely rural football, with clubs which are suffering for different reasons, but which are obliged to agree, to regroup, to merge, to maintain the associative fabric, the football offer, to their children. This is reality. Yes, the elite is in bad shape. If we remove Pau FC, our elite are more clubs which are competing in national championships.”
And regarding young people, we must make up for the lack of training centers.
“Via the Fédé, there are already hope centers. But it is in limited gauge. There are always kids who, even if they have the potential, if they are not at the pole, are left behind. Afterwards, for what already exists, this at least allows the kids to work to progress, to continue in the same conditions as a training center. The only difference is that they play at their club on the weekend. But during the week they have competitions, they meet, among other poles, teams from professional club training centers. What we must do and create is to allow children who have not been through that, and who can claim to consider being on the radar of a professional club, it is to allow them to work in the best conditions, which are closest to a training center, in order to continue their progress, which will allow them to develop their potential. We must help and support them. We have three rectorates, so the ideal would be for there to be, in the form of Sports Studies, or a high-level pole, one per department: that would be ideal. We must work in a united and supportive manner, that is only the general interest.”
Transcription Girondins4Ever
