“Everyone knows the Vélodrome, it’s a mythical stadium. Playing in front of 40,000 people is crazy. Being able to play in front of so many people will give us adrenaline and great enthusiasm”. The hooker of the Rugby Club Toulonnais, Teddy Baubigny, although a native of the Paris region, is eager: to play at the Vélodrome stadium this Saturday evening (9:05 p.m.) for the shock of the 18th day of Top 14 between the RCT and Stade Toulousain.
“An opportunity to play in a stadium so beautiful, so big, so legendary”, for the rear Aymeric Luc, brought to repeat itself since the Toulonnais will also play their match against Clermont on May 6 at the Stade Vélodrome. The enclosure has given pride of place to rugby for several seasons, with the Top 14 semi-finals organized in Marseille in 2017, the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals last May, or the match of the XV of France against the South Africa in November 2022.
“A land of rugby”
And next September, several World Cup matches, including one for England and France, two for South Africa, before two of the four quarter-finals. That’s not all, since the final of the Top 14 2024 will also be played at the Stade Vélodrome due to the unavailability of the Stade de France before the next Games in Paris. The den of Olympique de Marseille could also recover matches of the XV of France from the VI Nations tournament, for the same reason. “For the moment there is no discussion, but we have the most beautiful enclosure in France, we are ready to welcome one or two posters of the tournament”, announces Sébastien Jibrayel, sports assistant at the town hall of Marseilles.
Quite simply because Marseille and its region are “a land of rugby, we see that the spectators are present when we host Top 14 or international matches, with record attendance and a sold-out Vélodrome stadium for the reception. of South Africa,” said the deputy. This is confirmed by Stéphane Tollet, president of the rugby section of the SMUC, club of the 8th arrondissement, the first rugby section of Marseille which celebrated its 100th anniversary: ”Vocations are already there, our rugby school is the largest of all Paca, and Marseille Rugby Méditerranée which is approaching ours, is the second in the region, ”he frames.
No Marseille club at the highest level
A land of rugby and vocations in spades which “did not wait for major events”, such as these matches organized at the Vélodrome stadium, to develop. But rugby too often comes up against a glass ceiling. The only high level club is located in Aix, with Provence Rugby, and there is none in Marseille. “It’s still crazy, we have a population base of more than a million inhabitants, we have more than 1,500 students in rugby schools, but we have to refuse because of the lack of infrastructure”, regrets Stéphane Tollet.
Attempts have taken place, as in 1990 with Jean-Pierre Audier, the former president of the SMUC rugby section, who aimed to raise the club to the first division. [la plus haute division de l’époque : il n’y avait pas de ProD2 ni de Top14]. And more recently, in 2009, and the signing of the late Jonah Lomu in Marseille Vitrolles with the ambition to raise the club to federal 1. “But each time there are political reasons, sometimes strategic”, like so many ingredients to bitter failures, according to the president of the SMUC.
Municipal will
The new municipality elected in 2020, Printemps Marseillais, has also taken charge of this rugby project in Marseille. “The oval fiber in this city should have made it possible to develop and promote this sport there. There weren’t enough local policies, no club support, no infrastructure. This is the first time that we have dedicated a site entirely to rugby, with the Roger-Couderc stadium in the 15th arrondissement, with two grounds worthy of the name. Something that should have been done in 2007, during the last World Cup organized in France, but the town hall at the time preferred show politics rather than worrying about the promotion of this sport and Marseille sportsmen, ”tackle Sebastien Jibrayel.
With the “desire to see a Marseille team one day climb into the Top 14” thanks to “all these projects launched” in favor of rugby. Even if the chosen one is well aware that it will not be done “in a day”. In the meantime, Marseille vibrates through its neighbor Toulon, while “offering” it a welcome exposure.