ASBH: the Jiff, these players who are worth gold and not only in Béziers

Samuel Marques and Charly Malié are among the players from training courses. Midi Libre – MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH

At the end of the season, clubs must have fielded a minimum average of 16 players from training courses (Jiff). At the risk of being sanctioned on the green carpet. But it’s not always easy like in Béziers.

Require professional rugby clubs to play a certain number of players (16 on average per match over a season), from training channels (Jiff): the idea is very commendable. Especially since it prevents the most exclusive clubs from recruiting with all their might and only allowing foreigners to develop.

Above all, it allows structures respecting these regulations to recover money at the end of the season: "For example, if& ;nbsp;we end the season with an average of 17 players, we can recover 70 000 €", explains Jean-Michel Vidal, chairman of the board of ASBH. Conversely, if a club is below 16 Jiff, not only does it not earn any money but above all, it loses points in the attack of the following season: 6 if the average is between 15 and 16, or even 12 points, if it falls below 13… "At the start of the season, it is necessary to establish a list of players likely to play with the professional team, specifies Benjamin Bagate, the head of the training center and sports director of the ASBH. It must include a maximum of thirteen non-Jiff players."

Béziers is right on target

All that remains is to implement the system of the number of Jiffs imposed, is not always easy. Especially when the infirmaries are full more than necessary with these famous players… For the moment, Béziers is in the nails six days from the end of regular hostilities, the ASBH  counting an average of 16. Good. Except that at the end of the championship, the Béziers staff find themselves facing a real headache. A large number of his Jiffs are injured, like Yvan Lalevée, Yannick Arroyo, John Fincham, Romain Uruty, Pierre Courtaud and Julien Rasamoelina. A hard blow, Béziers having been ranked, this season, first in the ranking of Pro D2 training centers thanks, among other things, to all the work accomplished with the young people of its center.

A Jiff costs more

With an added problem for clubs that do not have extensive finances, as is the case with ASBH. A player who is Jiff knows this very well and costs more than an item which is not. In terms of salary negotiation, this must be taken into account. Knowing that the system can lead to aberrations: a French player having started, for example, late and not having gone through a training center will not be Jiff, whereas a foreigner who would have after three years (this is the minimum in such a structure) will become: "If we take the case of Raffaele Costa-Sorti, he is not not Jiff since he has only been at the training center for two years, explains Benjamin Bagate.On the other hand, next year, it will become one but for the benefit of Stade Français which loaned it to us and will get it back at the end of the season." Although foreigners, Giorgi Akhaladze and Luka Tchelidze are, for example, Jiff.

The race for Jiff

And there is no question of doing anything: "If we remove from the squad a player who is not not Jiff, you have to lend it or break the contract, notes the sports director of the ASBH. Knowing that a non Jiff is replaced by a non Jiff! Either way, we find ourselves racing against these types of players."

A quest that could lead clubs to use the system to replenish their nest egg. As soon as they are assured of their maintenance from an accounting point of view, they use as many Jiffs as possible. This allows them to increase their average and therefore receive a good jackpot at the end of the championship.

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