For his second season at the head of the Thèze avant-garde, Vincent Chabbert experienced a painful weekend with the fire in the locker rooms where he was a player for three years. If nothing will be the same again at the AGT stadium, the former second row is not letting himself be discouraged. With a group of players “more motivated than ever”, he salutes the solidarity of the neighboring clubs of Nord Béarn, Sévignacq, Pont Long and Morlaàs. Starting this Thursday, the Théziens will do a few kilometers to train. Sunday they will play Pomarez.
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Like the entire club, we imagine you shocked…
There was the first episode with the cut cables. It was very poorly accepted at the club, but it was fixed very quickly. The next stage, we were robbed of almost 12,000 euros worth of equipment and jerseys, it was really very hard to take but we managed to get through it.
There, really, with what happened during the night from Saturday to Sunday, all the players were in a state of shock. We arrived at the stadium, it was very complicated for everyone. There were presidents, managers and players dejected or in tears. They brought their friends, their families to see the damage. We still decided to spend the day together to cheer each other up and make it easier to swallow.
Like its pack, AGT wants to continue moving forward despite the vandalism, theft and arson it has suffered.
Guéna Photography
Where did you stay together?
It was derby day with a supporters' meal planned, the stadium was busy for the occasion. We, with the players, decided to eat together at the hunting lodge right next to the stadium. Given the events, that's where we found ourselves to stay together.
When the news spread on social networks, many supporters and players wanted to come and see for themselves. Even onlookers who passed by came to join us to chat, drink coffee, chat for just five minutes. Throughout the day, dozens of people passed by, some just to greet us.
Something to comfort you…
Of course, it allowed our group to come together a little and allowed the supporters to come and have a moment. Casually, AGT may only be in Regional 3, but there are some for whom it is their whole life. They only expect one thing on Sunday, and that is to come and spend some time at the stadium. It saddened them enormously and being able to stay with us, it allowed them to be with people, to not be alone in this ordeal.
Do you experience it almost as a mourning?
We talked about it again on Monday with the players, of course, it's only material and we're going to repair all that but it was our stadium. We didn't know it like that, it was our locker rooms, our places…
Of course, there will be new locker rooms but they will no longer be the ones in which we have won so many matches. It's a part of our history that is being erased, even if we rebuild it all, we know that it won't be the same.
Was the home preserved?
Yes, it is separated by around ten meters and intact but you should know that the electricity came from the changing rooms. There, we no longer have electricity, we can no longer occupy it.
On a sporting level, how are you going to function?
What's good about Rugby is that the key word is solidarity. Very quickly, a lot of clubs called us to lend us their infrastructure and equipment. It warms our hearts and we thank them for it.
Our neighbors from North Béarn, against whom we were to play this derby, offered us to come and train with them. Pont Long lends us its stadium for our home matches. Morlaàs and Sévignacq welcome us and lend us their equipment. We are in the process of seeing what time slots they can make available to us and adapt subsequently. We don't want the players to languish. The objective is to return to one of these clubs on Thursday.
Have you already received assistance following the theft of the jersey sets?
The first team had to play against Nord Béarn with the Sévignacq jerseys and the reserve team with the Morlaàs jerseys. Lembeye also lent us a set of jerseys until the end of the season.
Did they burn in the fire?
Fortunately, no. They had just been picked up and they were in the leaders' cars. On the other hand, we lost all our balloons and our pharmacy which were at the place where the car hit.
The idea is to bounce back immediately without letting any form of discomfort set in?
Exactly. When we saw the state in which our leaders and our presidents were, we decided with my assistant (Eric Paries, in charge of three-quarters, Editor's note) to leave very quickly, to talk to the players about it. We had set ourselves a period of two weeks to take a breather, to look at the solutions we could consider. The players said “out of the question, we have a match next Sunday at Pomarez, we will be on the field, whether we have trained or not, whether we have jerseys or not. We need to get back on track. And so on.”
So, you decided to follow them?
Naturally. Next weekend, we're leaving again.
With the feeling of coming out mentally stronger?
When we see the players, they are more motivated than ever. We had set ourselves the goal of the first two places in the championship. They are determined, more than ever, to achieve them. We will do everything for it.
We will even get back some of the players who no longer played but who came on Sunday. It made them want to help us and take over.
“We never imagined experiencing this”
“There is nothing that justifies being able to end up with completely burnt locker rooms,” sighs Jean-Michel Laulhé who went to the Thèze stadium when he learned of the disaster. “Like many, I used to always put myself in the same place. I wanted to look before the police installed the tape. Everything was black, the ceilings collapsed… it was a shock. Even more so when we know that it is voluntary,” confides this former player and president devoted to AG Thèze for more than 30 years. Now a leader, he says he is torn. “We never imagined experiencing this.”
Former player and coach, Stéphane Costa reacted on social networks. ”This new act of vandalism goes beyond anything we can accept. This touches me deeply, because AGT is not just a club, it is a family, a part of me”. He particularly supports “volunteers who give everything, week after week, with their heart, so that this club continues to live and transmit its values. Strength to all of you. Nothing and no one will destroy what was built with so much love and perseverance. Forever Red and Blue”.
