Citing dojo maintenance problems and difficult relations with the town hall, the Aramon judo club, from which champion Shirine Boukli came, left Aramon.
The Aramon judo club occupied a municipal dojo within the college’s sports hall, co-financed by the Department. “ We had brought all our equipment“explains Bernard Manonviller, president of the club who, since January, has thrown in the towel and left town.
The President mentionscomplicated relations between the club and the town hall, especially after part of the municipal team resigned in 2018. One of the people from the club ran against the mayor at the time, and our coach Kader Boukli, (uncle of champion Shirine Boukli, editor’s note)was on his list “. Bernard Manonviller also lists a whole series of technical problems at the dojo: water infiltration, heating; emergency exits…
In 2021, the municipality having changed, the club hopes for more peaceful relations and relaunches the town hall for work. An inventory is made. It’s going badly according to the president. For its part, the town hall points to the aggressiveness of one of the club members.
At the end of 2021, the club budgets and submits to the town hall a project of 50 to 60,000 € to completely renovate the dojo as part of the 1,000 dojos operation for 2024, allowing aid from the French federation. “But according to the town hall, it was not possible. We decided that enough was enough: we recovered our equipment including 200 tatami mats and we left!”
Bisbill around the tatamis
“The judo club took this decision, without warning, leaving the place empty and taking away 23 tatami mats which belong to the municipality”, recalls the town hall, which lodges a complaint for theft, invoice in support. The tatami mats have since been returned and the town hall has withdrawn its complaint…
Before this point of no return, Mayor Jean-Marie Rosier specifies that his team “has always wanted to maintain the dialogue. The association has never been pushed towards the exit and has benefited from many accompaniments: the heaters have been changed, written commitments have been made”. The town hall also specifies that Aramon could not claim the 1,000 dojos device because it is intended for priority neighborhoods. Above all, this device would have forced the town hall to accept a “privatization of the dojo. However, there is no question of calling into question the sharing with the college. In this case, “the first victims are the judokas and their parents”. Since the slots are not reallocated, the municipality hopes that judo can resume with other project leaders. “It’s going well”, says the mayor.
The judo club will resume its activity at the start of the school year, in a private dojo in Beaucaire. As a final settlement, he even recovered a cherry tree planted by the club in front of Aramon’s dojo. An olive tree, a symbol of peace, might have been wiser…
–
