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Cette fois, le Biarritz Olympique tient ses repreneurs
C’était dans l’air, mais la saga de la reprise du Biarritz Olympique a connu tellement de rebondissements que personne ne souhaitait trop s’avancer tant que ce n’était pas officiel. Ça l’est depuis ce vendredi, et la conférence de presse tenue au stade Aguiléra.
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Jean-Baptiste Aldigé, président depuis juin 2018 et qui le restera jusqu’au 30 avril, s’est installé devant les journalistes en compagnie de Shaun Hegarty. L’ancien joueur du BO prendra la présidence du conseil de surveillance, après avoir mené les négociations sans faire de bruit.
« Je veux remercier Jean-Baptiste car on a réussi à conserver de la discrétion dans ce dossier, ce qui est une forme de confiance mutuelle », a souligné le Franco-Néo-Zélandais, dont le père a également joué à Biarritz.
Il sera entouré de deux autres anciens joueurs : Marc Baget, passé lui aussi par la maison rouge et blanche, et le Sud-Africain Filip Van der Merwe, pensionnaire de l’ASM Clermont entre 2015 et 2019, qui prendra la tête du directoire.
Face à la presse, Hegarty n’a pas dévoilé dans le détail comment il comptait injecter de l’argent frais dans un club au bord de l’asphyxie financière. Le BO végète en Pro D2 (14e sur 16) après avoir connu, au début des années 2000, tous les succès ou presque (deux Brennus en 2005 et 2006, Challenge européen en 2012, finale de Champions Cup en 2006 et 2010).
Pas de quoi doucher l’enthousiasme des supporteurs, soulagés de mettre un terme à cette saga qui agite le Pays basque depuis des années.
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En effet, depuis l’arrivée d’Aldigé à la présidence, appuyé financièrement par Louis-Vincent Gave, le BOPB pâtit d’un conflit larvé avec la mairie, sur fond de mésentente à propos de travaux du stade ou d’aides municipales.
Dès décembre 2019, soit un an et demi après sa prise de contrôle du BO, la direction menace de mettre la clé sous la porte si la mairie n’aide pas le club.
En mars 2021, l’idée saugrenue d’une délocalisation du club émerge. La piste prioritaire enverrait l’équipe jouer à… Villeneuve-d’Ascq, 1 000 km plus au nord. Elle ne verra jamais le jour, pas plus que celle, plus couleur locale, d’aller jouer à Saint-Sébastien, dans le Pays basque espagnol.
Puis plusieurs offres de reprises se succèdent, sans que l’on sache vraiment si elles sont réelles ou imaginaires. Le jeu de poker menteur entre la mairie et le club bat son plein durant plus de deux ans.
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En février dernier, le duo Aldigé – Gave se disent prêts à céder le club pour un euro symbolique. C’est là que le trio Hegarty – Baget – Van der Merwe a avancé ses pions, jusqu’au dénouement de ce vendredi. Mais pour ces trois-là, le plus dur est sans doute à venir, tant la situation générale du Biarritz Olympique est préoccupante depuis la relégation historique du club en Pro D2, en 2014.
Comments on RugbyPass
I am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
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