Juvignac sports complex: ASJ still in the dark since the call for applications

À quelques centaines de mètres du stade de la Mosson, le complexe sportif se construit. – MT

Sans terrain dans sa propre commune depuis un an, l’ASJ, le club de football juvignacois, risque de ne jamais fouler celui du complexe Guttmann, en construction.

Adjacent to the Nelson-Mandela school, a stone's throw from the Mosson stadium, the new Ludwig-Guttmann sports complex is arousing desire for its football field. For the start of the September school year, the identity of the future club is still not revealed.

Logic would however dictate that AS Juvignac is the lucky one. Since May 2023, all teams have been training and playing matches mainly at the Avy stadium in Grabels. The construction of the new college by the Department on the only football field in the town (the Alice-Milliat stadium is dedicated to rugby), in the Constellations district, has left the ASJ orphaned by its artificial turf .

This relocation to the neighboring town is starting to take a long time for the managers and for an entire club. "It's a tough year", says sports director Issoumaïla Bakayoko, better known under the first name Ismaël, who is at the end of his rope.

"Broken promises"

With a rate of 29 training sessions per week, the Avy lawn is seriously damaged, the grass has disappeared in several areas of the field to make way for earth which becomes as hard as stone when the sun is beating down or mud on a rainy day.

"We had to cancel a lot of training this season for the safety of the children", concedes Olivier Simon, vice-president of AS Juvignac since the general meeting of March 29. The former club player, currently an educator in the U9 category where his twins play, is committed to changing the situation. "We are the first association in the town, the club is 50 years old this year and does not have any land", s& rsquo;he alarms.

In a petition signed on behalf of the 250 parents of AS Juvignac players, and addressed to Mayor Jean-Luc Savy at the beginning of April, the are singled out "broken promises" in favor of the club, namely the loan of a training ground " suitable" and a transport vehicle "suitable", because the 9-seater minibus made available does not meet "the needs of the club"to bring Juvignac licensees to the Avy stadium (around 10 km).

A new direction

The leaders feel aggrieved even though the municipality, for its part, has provided financial support of 67 732 &euro to date. to support them during the construction of the Guttmann complex. A high sum which surprises the managers given the conditions in which they find themselves: "I am stunned by the amounts", "we don't see any change", "we ask to see the invoicing".

In February, the City launched a call for applications for the new football field. She wanted to put pressure on the old management, after a series of events: degradation, incivility, fraud and complicity in fraud by several leaders during a women's U18 meeting, speeding with a minibus, debts that exceed 15,000 euros, not to mention the lack of foresight on the accounts at the start of the season.

"We didn't want to get to that point, I wanted the support to be done in a calm manner, expresses Marie -Delphine Parpillon, municipal councilor responsible for community life and healthy sport for all. We are as much as possible with them, we continue to follow them on a daily basis. The dialogue is not broken, it is up to them to re-mobilize. We must stop the bleeding because we are sinking into a not very glorious image."

Since the reconstitution, on March 29, of the organizational chart of AS Juvignac with Cécile Ikpefan as president, who is also elected from the opposition, the club has been struggling to repay its debts to the help of patrons, sponsors, tournaments and counts on crowdfunding.

In the meantime, there are four of them, including ASJ, who have submitted the application to seize the future land: Montpellier Arceaux, 3MTKD and a free candidate.

Response this Thursday, May 2 before a jury made up of elected officials from the majority and the opposition.

The future college under construction is located on the club’s former grounds.

I subscribe to read more