Tired of war, they did not return to the lawn on Sunday, November 7. The women of AS Bayonne have decided to boycott the Coupe de France match scheduled on the lawn of the Pierre Cacareigt stadium in Bayonne-Nord. A strike for denounce a dramatic situation in what is called “the other club of Bayonne”. A conflict that had been brewing for several months, and which broke out in a cry of alarm, as if to wake up a whole club around its Neskaks. Maintenance with Mélissa Hannouni, third row and Laura Delas, rear. Both members of the “council of wise men” also made up of Captain Manon Rojo, Brandy Cazorla and Morgane Rébujent.
Why refuse to play this Coupe de France match?
Laura Delas: We can afford to do this competition when we have a workforce of 50 players, this is not the case and suddenly, physical integrity takes precedence over the athlete and everything. You are no longer able to be safe if you play across the board, because there are only 20 of us to play all weekend. We should have made this match, next week to play with the Federal 1 team, the following week, to play again in Bobigny, to have a week of rest and to play almost our survival in December.
We have the jersey, the ball and our pride. That’s all we got.
You point the finger at “the immobility of the leaders of the club” in your open letter …
Mélissa Hannouni: The club must open its eyes to the situation. We’ve alerted management several times to the fact that every year, we lose a little more people, we lose important players, high-level players (Pauline Bourdon, Carla Arbez, Lou Baguette, Maika Brust, Editor’s note) and we don’t see anyone coming back. So, we alerted the club on several occasions on these points. We had many meetings with them. We talked a lot with them and we have the impression that our words are in vain. So the only way we’ve found to get them to react is to do that action.
Laura Delas: In fact, we would like to be on a level playing field. Every weekend, we go into the field for the same thing: to be as efficient as possible, but there, we are no longer performing since we are completely amateurs, we meet teams that are becoming completely professional. We may be the only Elite 1 Women team to still be amateurish. And we can no longer, we can no longer defend our chances on an equal footing. They have a lot more resources, simple GPS things, monitoring, more detailed feedback too. Much more workouts, weight training sessions, infrastructure. We have the jersey, we have the ball and our pride. That’s all we got.
Mélissa Hannouni: We are 20 every weekend (14 injured currently). Every week since the start of the school year, there is a girl who tells us that she is quitting so much she is disgusted with the situation and she does not take pleasure. Without counting the proposals of the clubs around and we can not compete, it is always the same and we can not blame the girls who go away, for better, to be better supported in their personal life. But by force, the group is running out of steam. We are tired, mentally tired, physically tired. We come to play rugby and ultimately we no longer play rugby. We take the lead more than anything else.
We were passed off as capricious princesses.
Is there such a big difference in treatment compared to other Elite 1 Women teams?
Mélissa Hannouni: We have been asking for a physical trainer for several years, who is really dedicated to us, a weight room with dedicated slots. So that was put in place this year thanks to Aviron Bayonnais. But in fact, it’s too late because we know that we have lost too many people in the meantime and above all, we fell a lot behind the big teams in the championship. It should have been in place for several years already. When we had asked for these things, we had passed for capricious princesses. It’s just the basic means to be able to play and train properly at this level. Compared to other clubs, we have no way of bringing in girls. We have no financial means, we have no help to help them find housing. It’s very complicated to help them find a job. We have very few arguments for bringing girls to ASB today.
Laura Delas: We are asked to be top-level players, but we are not given any means, so the love of the jersey … Yes, we leave our guts on the pitch every weekend, but that doesn’t help. all. At some point, you have to listen to the players, or else you are honest and you don’t play in Elite 1. We don’t deserve to be in Elite 1 with the means that we have. And if we play the maintenance, it is also for the young people who push behind and to try to leave the ASB at the best level, otherwise, we fear that ASB will disappear and that is not our goal.
Shake things up, for rugby and women’s sport.
Who is this cry of alarm addressed to?
Mélissa Hannouni: To the ASB club, to its current management, also to the town hall of Bayonne which supervises and supports us, at Aviron Bayonnais, but also to all those who love women’s rugby. We want that everyone understands the gravity of the situation we are in today. That’s why we opened this letter to everyone. We are very tired because we have invested a lot since the start of the season. We had a lot of movement at the start of the season, compared to the forwards coach who left. We were in self-management and a Marc (dal Maso, now forwards coach, Editor’s note) arrived then. Then, to see our girlfriends also leave, every year, it is a blow to morale. We are very tired and we want it to move forward for future generations.
Laura Delas: When I arrived three years ago, I came because from the outside, playing against this team, we felt a particular state of mind. We saw a group of friends evolve who, in addition, had the results. The state of mind, we have it, because otherwise, every weekend, frankly, it would be complicated. But at some point, that’s not everything and it will become mentally, morally very complicated because we are going to shoot each other at each other when, on the contrary, we all want the same thing. Our goal is to make things happen for ASB, for rugby and women’s sport. It’s now or never.