On March 13, 2017, the presidents of Stade Français and Racing stunned all of French rugby by announcing their merger. It was going to be a crazy week.
March 13, 2017 at 11:11 a.m. A press release appears on the shelves of all French media. He announces enormous, unpredictable information: the two Parisian clubs, Stade Français and Racing, want to merge. Twenty French championship titles gathered under the same coat of arms, two of the biggest budgets, two modern stadiums at their disposal. Some journalists believe the hoax. However, the two presidents prepared their coup in the greatest secrecy. In the process, Thomas Savare and Jacky Lorenzetti held a press conference at Parc de Bagatelle, venue of the first final in history between the two clubs, in front of a crowd of journalists still in shock. We are still talking about the last two French champions.
The two bosses specify that this is not an action of survival, as is often the case when we talk about mergers, but a way of joining forces. They show their desire to create a sort of super club made up of almost 100% selectable players with a few international stars. The project is understood, even if no one is excited, to say the least. As soon as the news is known, a wave of anger spreads, the pill is too hard to swallow. The players of both teams quickly made their discontent known, as did the supporters.
Elite French rugby is going to experience one of its craziest weeks. Everything shows that the two presidents had taken this decision on the sly without realizing the reactions it would provoke. For the incorrigibly nostalgic, the lovers of History, the crazy week which followed the announcement was a form of comfort. Yes, even in the era of assumed professionalism, presidents could not do anything with a club that existed before them. Supporters from both camps organized themselves to protest, with banners, flags, hats and signs. More than one would have expected.
The Racing players remain unmoved after their president’s announcement, those from Stade Français do not hide their anger. Harsh words are even exchanged. Warned by Thomas Savare, Max Guazzini, the man who brought the club out of limbo in the years 1997-1998, almost fell backwards and took refuge in silence.
Pascal Papé as standard bearer
The second row Pascal Papé, very fired up, quickly became the standard bearer of the revolt of the players in the pink jersey. He does not mince his words towards his president. “We’re talking about humans here! We’re not talking about real estate (Jacky Lorenzetti is the owner of the Foncia group) or printing money (the Savare family owns Oberthur, specializing in fiduciary printing). It’s crazy rich people. We don’t trample on one hundred and thirty-four years of history like that.” On the Racing side, Henry Chavancy, a pure product of the club, clashed with its president, something unimaginable until then.
An idea quickly emerges. In a merger, there is always a strong one and a weak one, it is a well-known law of business. Stade supporters quickly see in the operation an absorption of their club by a more powerful Racing. For some time, it was said that Thomas Savare wanted to sell a club that was costing him an arm and a leg. In six years, he had never managed to find financial balance. Racing owned the Arena, its indoor venue, the Stade français was only a tenant of Jean-Bouin, owned by the city of Paris.
The week was just a series of controversies. Parisians go on strike. The matches of the two clubs, in Castres and Montpellier, are postponed. The FFR of Bernard Laporte, ex-coach of the “Pink Soldiers”, took up the matter to fight the merger and attack the League of its enemy Paul Goze, accused of having supported this crazy idea. There will be repercussions. The outcry was such that the project flopped after a week. On March 19, Jacky Lorenzetti signed a letter to his public: “I am renouncing the merger with Stade français-Paris. In agreement with Thomas Savare, the merger will therefore not take place… I have heard the strong reluctance. I did not expect such resistance, especially internally. “
Savare said more or less the same thing and a few months later, he found a wealthy buyer, Doctor Wild. In our columns, Jacky Lorenzetti returned to this affair with fatalism: “This episode is a painful moment. The failure is entirely my responsibility. I explained things badly to people, I handled things badly. And if it had worked, I don’t even know if things would have been better…”
2023-12-17 12:00:01
#years #history #incredible #nonmerger #Parisian #clubs
