Who’s next ? This is the question that arises in recent months, when we are interested in the life of sports federations. Rugby, football, handball, now tennis… the most popular disciplines in the country are affected one by one by resounding scandals of all kinds, financial, sexual, managerial, behavioral. As France prepares to host two major events, the Rugby World Cup and then the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera intends to signal the end of recess. It is for this purpose, in any case, that she decided to set up a national committee responsible for strengthening ethics and democratic life in the federations, the official launch of which took place on Wednesday.
“The cameras are trained on us, and what is happening in our federations calls out abroad,” she warned in the introduction to the 12 members of this handpicked working group. Chaired by former Minister of Sports Marie-George Buffet and world athletics champion Stéphane Diagana, it includes personalities from all sides, connoisseurs of the sports world, its mysteries but also of public affairs. “Heavyweights in their field, experienced, with indisputable legitimacy”, welcomed the minister, who noted with a smile that she had not had “a single complaint” about her team composition. In details :
- Jean-François Lamour, Olympic fencing champion and former Minister of Sports
- Arsene Wenger, former Arsenal manager
- Stéphanie Frappart, international referee
- Emmanuelle Assmann, former president of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee
- Béatrice Barbusse, handball player and sports sociologist
- Brigitte Deydier, world judo champion in 1982, 1984 and 1986 and member of the CNOSF Ethics Committee
- Isabelle Autissier, navigator and honorary president of WWF-France
- Jacques Donzel, member of the International Observatory of Sports Policies
- Bernard Foucher, Chairman of the Federal Rugby Ethics Committee and of the Ethics Commission of the International Cycling Union
- Franck Latty, Associate Professor at Paris Nanterre University and President of the Ethics Committee of the French Tennis Federation
These twelve personalities have their work cut out for them. Recent cases have shown how the governance of the main federations is obsolete, governed by all-powerful barons who walk without too many scruples on the notions of opposition and transparency. A malfunction that leads to abuse, and by extension an increasingly strong rejection of the population to take a license. “Playing sports in a club is a wonderful human adventure, but to get started, it must be desirable, seem healthy”, underlines Amélie Oudéa-Castera, who has not failed to notice that more and more people took up sports outside the federal framework.
For that to change, this tailor-made committee has carte blanche. Beyond its own ideas, the latter also relies on the investment and cooperation of the federations. Not an easy task, when we see how the successions of Bernard Laporte and Noël Le Graët, for example, happened. The wind of revolution will have to blow very hard. “We are in a logic of co-construction. Many people in the federations understand this need for modernity, to live with the times, wants to believe Stéphane Diagana. Sport is lagging behind on issues of social responsibility. »
“It has to be bubbling, there have to be debates on the possible options. And for that we must unlock the democratic life of the federated, supports Marie-George Buffet. It can go through a wider electorate, or the introduction of proportional representation to elect authorities, a bit like in municipal councils. But we’ll see, we’re not there yet. »
Emergency
After the first session on Wednesday at the end of the afternoon at Insep, the working group has scheduled a regular update to report on progress and blockages. The minister is awaiting proposals after the Rugby World Cup next fall. The most complicated thing will undoubtedly be that they do not remain at the stage of good ideas. “I chose personalities who have character, independence, and who know that reports that accumulate on the shelves in ministries are not what interests me, assures Amélie Oudéa-Castera . I want us to land on the concrete. »
The solutions that have emerged may be the subject of bills or amendments to the statutes of the federations. “We must recreate the desire, for young women and young men, to take on responsibilities in the authorities, show them that they can interfere in their management with new ideas”, asserts Marie-George Buffet before returning in the small room where his colleagues are waiting for him. There is no more time to lose to get the governance of French sport out of the rut.