With every stone he raises since becoming president of the FFR, Florian Grill dreads what he will find. He understood long ago that the financial situation he had inherited “was worse than we feared, he says, since we went from a deficit of 9 million at the time of our election, to 13 at time of the general meeting and now around 20 million. »
In recent days, Grill learned incidentally, by a letter from the Australian federation, that there would be a kind of commitment made by the Laporte administration, as Rugbyrama indicates. It relates to the last preparation match of the Blues before the World Cup, scheduled for Sunday August 27 at the Stade de France.
“According to the statements of the Australian federation, there would not exist a contract but an oral promise, explains the president Grill. However, there is no written record. Australian leaders assure that they have received the promise to be returned a sum of around one million euros. I immediately asked if it had been budgeted. Answer: no.
Former treasurer Alexandre Martinez acknowledges that discussions took place, not that a promise had been sealed. On Friday, we sent a letter to the Australian federation to offer it not one million euros but 50% of the revenue generated by this match beyond the first 65,000 supporters of the Stade de France, which would allow the FFR to fit within its budget. The Australian leaders would like to collect a share of the TV rights but that does not concern us; it is with the Six Nations that we must see.
We reminded them that France had traveled to their country for a summer tour of three tests during the Covid and that this may have relieved their finances. What I find fundamentally unhealthy in this story is that a country gets paid to go and play somewhere. If this continues, it means that only rich countries will be able to welcome certain nations. »
Although he has not yet received a response from Australia, Grill does not imagine that the France-Australia match may not take place. This Friday, he said to himself that in retaliation, the Wallabies coach Eddie Jones could divert his “big” team from the Stade de France and align it on August 26 against Portugal in Paris, instead of the reserve team which was planned and which would face the fifteen of France the next day. A wild assumption.
