In a video shot on Sunday, the players and volunteers of the Black Panthers of Thonon-les-Bains launch an SOS for amateur sport. Stopped for months, the American football club which plays the leading roles in France is experiencing “abysmal” economic losses according to its president.
In a video shot on Sunday, the leaders, players and volunteers of Black Panthers de Thonon-les-Bains are launching an appeal for help for amateur sport. On the lawn of the training ground of the Joseph Moynat complex, they formed a giant SOS to alert on the economic situation of the American football club, hit hard by the restrictions linked to the Covid-19 health crisis.
– Black Panthers Thonon
Abyssal losses
The survival of the Haut Savoyard club, which plays the leading roles in France and in Europe, is now clearly threatened according to its president. Benoit Sirouet, “we have practically no financial return since March, the losses are abysmal, and we have no visibility, the rules change every fortnight“laments the man who founded the Black Panthers in 1987.
Considered an amateur club, the club operates according to rules which are similar to the professional world, with three employees and an annual budget of 600,000 euros. “Between March and June alone we lost 70,000 euros, which is what allows us to start again the following season, and again we are forbidden to work, at one point it will no longer be possible“.
The double curfew penalty
The training of the 60 players of the senior and youth squad has been able to resume at a minimum since the last government announcements, but contacts remain prohibited, “we just run them around the field, we can’t see the end of it“adds the president of the Black Panthers, who views the deconfinement of December 15 and the establishment of a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. with a dim view.:”for us it’s the double penalty, it’s even worse, it’s true confinement. 60% of our training is done in the evening, we will have no practice at all“.
In 2020 the Black Panthers season came to a halt after three games. The Haut-Savoyard club is projecting itself into 2021 with as many uncertainties. Even if the date of January 20 could allow the return on the ground, the damage is done concludes Benoit Sirouet, “we have credits and expenses to pay like any business. Today an association like ours is a business, but does not have the advantages. The company today can work, we can’t“.
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