Blanco brushes off Millar's rebuke
Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) chief Serge Blanco has responded to the statement issued by International Rugby Board (IRB) chairman Dr Syd Millar, insisting his stance on the Anglo-French boycott of Europe is not motivated by personal glory but by his concerns about the future of the club game.
In a powerfully worded statement released on Monday, Dr Millar slammed the “disgraceful” and “selfish” attitude of Anglo-French clubs following their boycott of Heineken Cups and European Challenge Cups beyond this season.
He claimed Blanco was being “naive”, and had shown a lack of respect towards other European nations and the fans. Millar also said that he could not understand how “one man should be allowed to bring European rugby to this state”.
Blanco, chairman of the umbrella organisation of the top two divisions in France, has defended his role in the bitter stand-off.
He claims he is simply protecting the rights of the clubs, and believes Millar should concentrate on his role as the “judge” of rugby.
“Rugby is always pushing passions to excess,” he said in a letter sent to Dr Millar.
“But in the current situation, certain passages in your communication of April 9th appeared to be an official verbal attack from someone who is supposed to be the peacekeeper in world rugby.
“The request of the clubs is therefore perfectly legitimate and in no way justifies your portrayal of them as self-centred, looking to bring about the destabilisation of the rugby governance system.”
Both the LNR and their equivalent in this country, Premier Rugby, blame the Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) refusal to pass half their European Rugby Cup shares to the English clubs as the reason for their withdrawal.
The Anglo-French clubs insist the RFU in January reneged on a deal struck last autumn, something Twickenham top brass flatly deny.
This betrayal of their word is all the more impossible for the clubs to understand or accept because we are not asking for more money, nor to have more “power” but simply to be recognised as parts of the whole, by the sides of the unions, in the organisation of a competition in which we participate,” said the former France fullback.
On his own involvement, Blanco said: “I like what I do, and I am getting no personal profit out of it.
“I know that I will always retain my way of thinking and expressing myself whether I am directly involved in rugby or not.”
Blanco finished by saying Dr Millar should put his “peacekeeper’s clothes back on, stop condemning and take in hand the problems and the un-discussed issues which are currently eating away at our sport”.
Serge Blanco’s letter in full: Mr President,
Rugby is always pushing passions to excess. But in the current situation, certain passages in your communication of April 9th appeared to be an official verbal attack from someone who is supposed to be the peacekeeper in world rugby.
How can one stay impervious to such violence, to this settling of scores targeted against the English who have the strategic subtlety and intelligence to turn the French clubs and their little easily-influenced president from the correct pathway? These words are beneath the position of the highest world rugby official, and are above all far from what the rugby world expects from the IRB when facing our current situation.
But let us leave these unpleasant issues to one side in order to deal with what really interests us i.e. rugby.
Today’s clubs are preoccupied with their future.
In case you are not aware, for over a year, we have been in talks to gain a recognition of the clubs through participation in the ERC board which is contested by one union alone, the RFU, even though several months ago, we found an agreement with all parties united.
This betrayal of their word is all the more impossible for the clubs to understand or accept because we are not asking for more money, nor to have more “power” but simply to be recognised as parts of the whole, by the sides of the unions, in the organisation of a competition in which we participate.
The request of the clubs is therefore perfectly legitimate and in no way justifies your portrayal of them as self-centred, looking to bring about the destabilisation of the rugby governance system.
I would like to remind you that at the heart of the LNR committee, the representatives of players and professional coaches were in agreement with the club representatives. But perhaps they too are unaware or have been manipulated in order to deprive their members of their sporting, career and financial interests in this competition?
In addition, although the problems linked to the organisation of international rugby are numerous, nobody can accuse the LNR of having contested the sporting authority of the unions, nor of having taken these problems outside of the rugby institutions. On the contrary, the LNR has ceaselessly looked for dialogue and involvement in the professional structures within the IRB, sadly without success…interference from the President of the LNR? Why?
Because I defend the interests of the clubs who took risks in increasing their budget tenfold in 9 short years, who invested in their infrastructures, and who today fear for their futures because they feel that the truth is being hidden from them?
Because we want to continue to live?
Because, thanks to us 900 players (without counting their coaches and other club employees) live in France off their new profession of which a large number of foreign players also benefit their national teams?
It is us who put this European Cup into motion. With our interference, our ideas, our teams, our supporters, our sponsors. Without the permanent engagement of the clubs or provinces from Italy, England, France, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, this competition would never have know the fame and success it enjoys today. The French clubs are therefore, like the other participants, very attached to this competition and hope that it will continue to develop.
But it is time to talk in the language of reality. It is to this language that the clubs are attached when they ask to be recognised and to be members of ERC.
And since you give me the opportunity, let me say what the people on the ground think.
The structures at the grass roots of professional rugby feel that they are being ignored. No direct contact, no forum nor consultation has been organised by the IRB. The problems which face us in the new professional sector have not been addressed for several years and we are growing tired. Talk to me about rule 9, about the calendar, about the representation of the professional sector within the IRB, about the organisation of tournaments, of the disassociation of disciplinary sanctions, of insurance of selected players, of aid to poorer nations, of the rule regarding collapsed scrums …and I give up.
And now you presume to give me a lesson in respect.
For me, respect is to safeguard and organise the interests of the many, for the good of rugby and its development. It starts with the organisation of decision making bodies, and continues by competitions, the bodies who participate in them, sponsors, media, supporters.
I like what I do and I take no professional profit from it. I know that I will always retain my way of thinking and expressing myself whether I am directly involved in rugby or not.
Therefore, Mr President, put your peacekeeper’s clothes back on, stop condemning and take in hand the problems and the un-discussed issues which are currently eating away at our sport.
Sportingly,
Serge Blanco
