Florian Grill, President of the French Rugby Federation: “We need to keep this rugby in medium-sized towns and villages”

Florian Grill s’est rendu au complexe sportif du Chapitre pour rencontrer les acteurs du rugby lozériens. Midi Libre – Célian Guignard

Candidat à sa propre réélection à la tête de la FFR, en octobre 2024, Florian Grill était en visite à Mende, ce samedi 24 août, pour rencontrer les trois clubs que compte la Lozère.

The election for the presidency of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) will take place on October 19, 2024. So you came to Lozère as part of your campaign…

It's not just for the campaign. I've been on the field every weekend for seven years. That's always been my role, first on the board of directors and then as president of the FFR. Over the year of my mandate, I made 142 trips.

How many clubs and licensees are there in France ?

We have 2,000 clubs for 360,000 licensees (700 licensees in Lozère, Editor's note).

How can we increase these figures, both in France and in Lozère ?

Women's rugby is a lever, with growth of 20%. There is a real appetite. We are aiming for 100,000 female licensees. However, and this is the case in Mende, we have major problems with facilities, particularly changing rooms. We cannot hope to develop women's rugby if the girls change in the referees' changing rooms, on buses, in cars or, as here, in a storage cupboard. Rugby does not only transform tries. It also transforms people. We need more rugby in society, but for that to happen, there has to be a follow-up in terms of networking of clubs, facilities, etc.

Florian Grill has been president of the FFR since June 14, 2023. Midi Libre – Célian Guignard

Lozère has only three clubs (Rugby Club Mende Lozère, Rugby Club Marvejolais and Rugby Club Haut-Gévaudan). However, there is potential…

When we come to Mende, we see that there are 36 players who play between the Fédérale 1 and the Top 14. There is real potential. 50% of our players in the French teams come from towns or villages with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. We need to keep this rural rugby. A counter-model, for me, would be a rugby that only existed in big cities and that no longer played its educational and civic role in smaller towns and villages.

Is the gold medal in rugby sevens at the Olympic Games the promise of new members at the start of the school year??

That's the goal. Rugby is the second sport in France in the media. We're hot on the heels of football, even more so since rugby sevens. We had 530,000 spectators in six days of the Olympic Games and record audiences on television. If we look back at the performances of rugby sevens, we are world champions in Madrid, Olympic champions. We had a gold medal in Los Angeles, the first in nineteen years. We won a silver medal in Hong Kong, the Mecca of this sport. The girls are vice-world champions. They had won silver medals at the Tokyo Olympics… The performances are exceptional. We now have two engines, rugby union and rugby sevens. And, despite this, we are only the tenth federation in terms of the number of members. We are the only ones to have this gap. It is linked to everything I said previously. We must invest in rugby. I will notably meet the mayor of Mende to discuss these subjects.

Rugby must also take its place in schools…

For this we have rugby fives, which is played without collision, without tackling and in mixed teams. It can be played from primary school to the age of 70. We also have health rugby and adapted rugby… There is rugby for everyone. We have a public service delegation. We must assume the educational and societal role that is ours.

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