This Friday evening, at 8:45 p.m., the kickoff of the Top 14 final between Stade Toulousain and La Rochelle will be given at the Stade de France, in front of 14,000 spectators and no longer 5,000. With each qualification of the Rouge & Noir, tradition dictates that the inhabitants of the Pink City meet on the Place du Capitole to support their team from a distance, in front of a giant screen. But this year, due to the coronavirus epidemic, the game will not be broadcast.
To be able to comply with sanitary rules, the city should have enforced sanitary constraints and comply with a limit of 5,000 people maximum. What the mayor refuses to do. “Renting a screen at a certain price, you have to assume to spend public money for such a small number of people. We would then be backwards of what the Stade Toulousain is, open to all and not only to a privileged few, ”notes the mayor, Jean-Luc Moudenc.
On the other hand, the latter says he is in favor of the installation by bars and restaurants of screens that can broadcast the match. “Distributed throughout the city, this would avoid concentrations of people,” pleads the city council.
A meeting with the people of Toulouse this weekend
If nothing formal is therefore organized for the match itself, preparations are underway to organize a meeting over the weekend to celebrate the victory in the European Rugby Cup on May 22, and if possible a new Brennus. A fiesta promised a month ago by Didier Lacroix but which could not be held due to sanitary conditions.
“Considering the improvement in the coronavirus circulation indicators, we are now thinking about how to celebrate the Cup, and maybe the Brennus, I hope. The idea is that of a popular meeting with new organizational methods, while respecting the health requirements in force, ”says the mayor of the Pink City.
And this meeting should take place on Saturday, before the foreign players take off for a well-deserved vacation. “Whatever happens, there will be a meeting with the whole public to show the Cup. If the Cup is not alone, the celebration will be even stronger. What the Toulouse public has received over the past 18 months deserves an exceptional meeting. The Capitol with its scaffolding does not seem the ideal place. But we will make an appointment with Toulouse on Saturday, that’s for sure, ”confirms Didier Lacroix, president of Rouge & Noir.