This Monday evening, the first “Brindis d’or” ceremony took place at the Théâtre du Gymnase, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, awarding prizes to professionals in the bullfighting industry.
A bit more rustic than the Césars, less predictable than the Golden Ball ceremony and really less noisy than the “NRJ Music Awards”. The bullfighting world had its big evening in the capital, an unprecedented event, which brought together 600 aficionados in the Gymnasium theater, welcomed by around ten anti-bullfighting activists at the entrance. A first, punctuated by a few bad moments: an overly talkative juror who seems to discover the nominees when awarding his prize, the sound system which acts up during the flamenco sequence, a master of ceremonies who himself wins a prize for a show that he put on and burst into tears while thanking his parents. But even the most beautiful evenings have their downturns.
THE aficionados were nevertheless entitled to a few moments of emotion. The Béziers breeder Robert Margé had left his Provençal shirt for a remarkable black suit. His voice was uncertain when he received the toast of the best rancher (breeder of fighting bulls), always ready to shed a tear when he talks about his breeding in Aude, starting from nothing, and who today sends his bulls to the biggest arenas in France and Spain. More unexpected and nevertheless upsetting, the intervention of the Landes rugby player, Sébastien Boueilh, the president of the association Colossus with feet of clayraped from the age of 12 to 16 by her cousin's husband, returning from training. Part of the profits from the evening was donated to his organization, which fights against sexual violence in sport.
“Giving a microphone to a bullfighter is not easy, but when he also has a stutter, it becomes really complicated…”
Gilles Raoux, former bullfighter
If the two stars of the industry, from Nîmes and Béziers, Léa Vicens and Sébastien Castella, came to pick up their Toast of honor, we saw winners of a less conformist type parade. The Happycionado association, which travels through bullfighting towns with its inflatable arena, won the youth prize and the French bullfighting surgery association was awarded the prize. “favorite”. It was the blond and talented bullfighter from Bordeaux, Clemente, who was voted best bullfighter, receiving his award from the hands of the former matador and ally of Juan Bautista, Gilles Raoux. It was discovered on this occasion that the man stuttered. And had a lot of humor. “Giving a microphone to a bullfighter is not easy, but when he also has a stutter, it becomes really complicated…” His bullfighting lesson, however, turned out to be very fluid: “When you find yourself between the bull's horns, a few centimeters away, you know that if you miss the pass, you have a 99% chance of being caught. And 1% chance of not getting caught. The figures are the men who try this 1%. »
France
