Are Montpellier about to be barred from this seasons Top 14?

A missing signature on a single piece of paper could leave Aaron Cruden kicking his heels in frustration at Montpellier when the season kicks off, it has emerged.

Everyone knows the French love bureaucracy. As a nation, if they can tie anything up in red tape, they will. One of the few things they love more than bureaucracy is an almighty row involving bureaucracy. And rugby fans are being treated to a humdinger of the latter that, 25 days from the start of the new season, could in theory see the Top 14 reduced to the Top 13.

The problem? A single signature on one vital piece of paperwork that could leave the entire Montpellier squad – including Cruden and fellow big-name summer arrivals Ruan Pienaar and Louis Picamoles – with nothing to do and no games to play when the season kicks off later this month.

Montpellier’s billionaire owner Mohed Altrad is engaged in a long-running row with chairman of the club’s amateur section Jean-Michel Arazo. The cause of the disagreement is complicated. It started five years ago, with a row over funding for training amateur players and at one point escalated to include police involvement in allegations of ticket theft – allegations which have been described by Arazo as ‘false and defamatory’.

The enmity between the two has simmered ever since. This summer, it has boiled over again, as the new season looms large on the horizon.

Arazo has still to sign the convention that officialises the link between the professional and amateur arms that will allow the club to take its place in the French top flight. It is, under normal circumstances, an annual rubberstamping exercise that clubs undertake without fanfare or rancour.

Without his signature, and the FFR affiliation code that he holds, the club will not be allowed to compete in the Top 14. The paperwork must be completed by the scheduled kick off of Montpellier’s season-opening match against Agen, at 6pm on August 26.

While club officials as well as FFR and LNR authorities expect the paperwork to be complete in good time, there is some disquiet that it has not already been filed.

There are, reportedly, even concerns that the issue could affect relations between the union and Altrad. The construction magnate is the first sponsor of the shirts of the French national side.

This is the latest in a series of background issues that have beset the club before the start of the new campaign. On July 18, the club won an appeal against a ruling that would have seen it forced to play its opening match at a neutral venue. The sanction was imposed after Montpellier was found guilty of displaying posters critical of the LNR and its president Paul Goze at the height of the controversial and ultimately unsuccessful merger between Racing 92 and Stade Francais. A related €70,000 fine was also reduced to €20,000.

All professional clubs in France must have an amateur section. These throwbacks to pre-professional days can wield enormous influence. Long before the abortive Racing 92 / Stade Francais merger in March 2017, the amateur arm of ProD2 side Biarritz halted in its tracks an attempt to merge the club with Basque Country rivals Bayonne.