The competition will take place in France from September 8 to October 28, with the opening match France against New Zealand. An event “never so well prepared”, assures the president of the organizing committee on Wednesday on franceinfo.
“At 100 days, we’re ready!”, assures Wednesday May 31 on franceinfo Jacques Rivoal, president of the organizing committee of the Rugby World Cup. The competition will take place in France from September 8 to October 28, with the opening match France against New Zealand. In total, the competition will be held in 9 host cities. Saint-Denis, but also Lille, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Marseille, Nice and Toulouse.
franceinfo: 100 days from the opening match, is everything ready?
Jacques Rivoal: At 100 days, we are ready! We experienced a great moment of emotion on Tuesday since a South African, world champion four years ago, came to symbolically give us the Webb Ellis trophy. It was a witness transmission and tell us “Well, now it’s up to France. You are going to welcome the world of Rugby.” There is a pressure, there is a form of excitement, because we are going to organize a big popular party for two months. At the same time, there is great serenity because indeed, we have the impression that this World Cup has never been so well prepared. All stakeholders are mobilized and we will deliver an exceptional sports platform and once again, a great popular celebration.
How to make it a popular party and not just an event for rugby fans?
What is very reassuring for us is that we know that the country is behind the event. We did a survey recently and up to 90% of the French tell us: “We support the organization of a World Cup, we want to participate in it”. Because in fact, we want to party. At a time which is nevertheless a little charged on the international political level, where we will perhaps have a truce for two months thanks to the values of rugby, it is social ties, it is fraternity, we will have a big popular party. Above all, we want to anchor this popular festival in the territories. It is not a centralized event in Paris. There are nine host cities and so we really want to highlight the richness of our terroirs, the local gastronomy, the culture, the regional heritage. This will be the big popular party.
Are there any tickets still on sale?
The enthusiasm for the event was reflected in the rush for tickets. Almost a year before the event, we had practically sold out the tickets. But today, we have set up a resale platform and therefore we can consult every day, there are still tickets on sale for latecomers. It is a completely secure platform. We want to avoid the black market, we resell at the face price and for the buyer, there is just a small commission of 10% for management fees.
One of the challenges will be to ensure the safety of the supporters. How to avoid the Champions League final fiasco in 2022?
Paradoxically, it was more of an opportunity. There have been parliamentary inquiries, a management mission to major sporting events, and therefore feedback to understand what ultimately went wrong. It reassured us in the strategic choices we had made. An example: we decided from the beginning to have a ticket office that is dematerialized. There will be no paper tickets. This will allow us to communicate until the last moment with our spectators. We can, if there are mobility problems to access the stadium, give them information. We are of course working very, very closely with all the State services to ensure that for the spectators, it is painless, transparent. And to ensure that the people who come to experience the event experience it in ideal conditions.
The law that has just been passed in Parliament allows you to use smart cameras. Will they be used during the Rugby World Cup?
Of course, we will apply the new regulations. The subject has been completely validated by the Constitutional Council. There is no risk to have for the freedom of people.
The XV of France will play at home, in front of their public. Is France the favorite of this World Cup?
As head of the organization, we are bound by a duty of fairness vis-à-vis the 20 teams that we will welcome. It is true that France is registered, perhaps for the first time, and legitimate to appear in the list of favorites. But it is true that there, we have an exceptional generation. I believe that everyone in Rugby, the whole Rugby family, whether it’s the professional world, whether it’s the amateur world, the French Rugby Federation which went to look for the organization of this World Cup, everyone of Rugby mobilized to put France in a situation of success. And these are the results we have today. But again, may the best win.
The medals will be a bit special?
After the sports field, after the big popular festival, we also want to have a positive impact on society, in particular on the environment. It’s not easy, but we’re working on it, and in particular on recycling. The medals were made from recycled telephones. There are more than 200,000 phones that have been recycled to make the 1,491 medals that will be awarded to athletes. We are going to unveil these medals this Wednesday at the Monnaie de Paris, because it is at the Monnaie de Paris that they were struck.