After an election full of surprises, the former president of the Toulouse club Jean Azéma was elected president of the National Volleyball League (LNV) on Thursday afternoon. Outgoing president Yves Bouget was quickly eliminated from a three-act ballot. RMC Sport tells you behind the scenes.
“Forward the clubs!” It is with these words that Jean Azéma concludes his application email, which RMC Sport obtained, sent a few days before the election of September 26 to the forty voters from the professional clubs of the LNV. The former president of the Toulouse club (2008-2022) and member of the outgoing steering committee, is not unknown to the microcosm. This Toulouse university professor spoke out against the methods of President Bouget during the last steering committee of the League, last June. A stormy exchange which was a landmark for the rebels.
The Bouget presidency tensed
During the Olympic summer, the opposition organized itself to present a project led by this affable man. In three main axes and seven pages, Azéma expresses its vision of change: attracting more spectators, expanded calendar, more professional clubs and more matches to improve finances, a plural and inclusive league, developing women’s volleyball, working on training centers, adapting the Club License to the geographical and economic specificities of the teams, etc. A program “breaking with current governance methods (…) more participatory, respectful and collaborative”. So much for the big ideas of a program that still needs to be perfected today. The desire for change of an armada of young club bosses and the fed up of a Jupiterian, vertical and “sometimes hurtful” presidency did the rest.
Thursday morning, members of the General Assembly arrived from all over France in the gray Parisian atmosphere. For most of them, having left the Province, the day began early with a plane or train trip. The meeting was set for 9:30 a.m. in the large white building of the Best Western hotel, between Orly and Rugis. Initially, the 35 presidents of professional clubs as well as the six representatives of coaches and the players’ union had to elect their representatives to the steering committee at a general meeting. The election was played out in three acts.
Act 1, the first results coming out of the voting booths (the vote is not electronic) quickly and clearly established a hierarchy. “From the first votes among the college of independents, we clearly feel that the current favorable to Jean Azéma is collecting the most votes,” a voter tells RMC Sport. Concretely, support for the Toulouse academic fluctuated at 22-23 votes while the pro-Bouget hardly obtained 20 votes. “And there, surprise! Yves Bouget, the outgoing president, from this college of independents, is not elected to the steering committee,” confides a voter. A bolt from the blue. One more in French volleyball, after the signing of Blues star Earvin Ngapeth, double Olympic champion, in Poitiers.
Around 12:30 p.m., one thing is already certain: the LNV will have a new president. After his four years in office during which opposition to his methods was growing, Yves Bouget was “swiped” from the new steering committee. Too hard, too rigid and not attentive enough for the slingers.
Act 2, the new steering committee had to vote for a president. There was no longer any doubt that Jean Azéma, the declared candidate who had become the big favorite, was going to run. He was facing Philippe Peters, the president of Mariannes 92 (Levallois Paris Saint-Cloud). Narrowly elected in this body, the boss of the reigning French champions presented himself more to carry the voice of the former majority than to seek victory. At the start of the afternoon, the path was paved for Jean Azéma who received 20 votes, against one abstention and one vote for Mr. Peters. Act 3, back before the general assembly, Jean Azéma is elected around 3:30 p.m. president of the LNV with two thirds of the votes.
At the end of the performance, the joy of the winners contrasts with the regrets of the Bouget camp. “These are parochial wars rather than explanations on the merits”, regrets one while another applauds “the big work carried out over the last four years. The Club License has been a big turning point for the clubs by pushing them to structure itself. If concern around the new management of this License Club reigns in one camp, the rebellious insist that “the development of volleyball no longer takes place in a forced march. There will now be exchanges and respect to develop volleyball tomorrow, everyone at their own pace, according to their means.”
In his first speech as president, Jean Azéma explained that he would be the president of all clubs, “respectful of people, of the differentiated professionalization of clubs (…) to avoid damage”. Jean Azéma will have to bring all the professional clubs with him. This is his challenge. And it is vital.
