While they were to face Stade Toulousain Sunday, November 7 in the Coupe de France, the players of AS Bayonne did not enter the field. The Neskak have decided to strike and therefore withdraw, to show their anger towards the management of the club and point the finger “unacceptable conditions and a lack of investment by the club”. This Monday in 100% Rugby, the president of the ASB, Gilles Peynoche answers the questions.
Through this strike, the Neskak denounce an untenable situation at the ASB. Do you understand this cry from the heart and this rant?
So quite frankly, no. We can understand that we are having discussions. We had some, but the action they led, some of the players, since they are still not all united with this movement. Well, I remind you that we are an association with 350 licensees, including 110 girls and women, in the right bank district of Bayonne. When we have had girls for 30 years and we have always promoted women’s access to sport and women’s rugby, then we cannot understand the violence of this movement at the same time. And then, we are an association, we are not a company. So going on strike, I don’t see what it brings.
Today, the girls speak of “physical integrity” because he has a lot of injuries. There have been departures, the workforce is fair. We are talking about 20 active players only and 14 injured …
A little over 20 players, but it’s true that we have a lot of injuries. We knew from the start that our workforce was fair. In recruiting, whatever may be said, we had a lot of girls but hey, few girls came. We have certainly lost major players, but who also left for family, professional or financial reasons. Nevertheless, we still had the possibility this Sunday to play since the regulations allow to play with an incomplete squad. We would have had a “lost match” at 0 points, or a match with a deficiency like we did in Montpellier because we know that we have to adapt with the rules. Among the girls, we know that it is also very hard to find pillars, it is the elite. So it’s true that that’s a bit hard, but there were possibilities to play. From there it would also have been necessary that we know as soon as they made this decision, to tell us so that we can adapt and not to warn us during the night from Saturday to Sunday.
Obviously, some (players) do not have this extra soul.
We send them “to the butcher’s shop”, that’s what they say. With so many injuries, some players who play in Federal and who find themselves aligned against Elite 1 teams, ultra prepared.
I think we have to put things in context. Today, for this match against Toulouse, there was no obligation, neither to win, nor to lose. We’re playing a rugby match. The Toulousaines came. They have made their 300 kilometers. They came to leave by bus. We could quite arrange to have mock scrums and play a rugby match. It has happened other times in history and it will certainly happen again. I think the decision was not a good one.
The Women point to the club’s immobility for several months, even several years, in relation to a situation that does not change. What do you have to answer?
Through me, it is all the members of the board of directors of the ASB and also the majority of the members, boys or girls of the ASB. It should be remembered that we still have 50 younger girls, some of whom are in hope. We had internationals, we had better years. We know that this year, we are going through more difficult periods. We knew it from the start of the season. We discussed it. At one point, we left to do this season. It turns out that there are good years, others not so good. This year, it is important because you have to stay in the 12 to stay in the Elite. I was really counting on her to have that extra soul. Obviously, some do not have it. Afterwards, on the requests, we progressed step by step. We are never just AS Bayonne and not Stade Toulousain. We represent Bayonne. We have a physiotherapist who has been almost dedicated to us for two years. This year, we knew we were fishing on physical preparation and bodybuilding. It turns out that thanks to Aviron Bayonnais, we had a physical trainer made available, a weight room for 30 people which is taken into account by Aviron Bayonnais, where there are only ten to go. Because it’s true, she works, it’s hard to manage everything.
Which Federal 3 club can have a women’s section in Elite 1? I’m asking for time.
All that comes from Aviron Bayonnais …
Yes, it’s Aviron Bayonnais because we are a club of 350 licensees and we are never more than an amateur club.
Except that the pennant team that plays at the highest level, it is the Neskak …
Yes, yes, I hear that. But somewhere in France, which Federal 3 club can have a women’s section in Elite 1? I always give the example of the French champions last year, ASM Romagnat, who worked five years to get there and who don’t have much more resources than us. They are going to have them now and in addition, I want to register a little on the wrong side because there is a project that was presented at the start of the season, to Jean-Dauger by Philippe Tayeb and by myself on what ‘we wanted to do. I leave the town hall there with Philippe Charabas. On the AB Campus project which will start, we were with the mayor with the deputy for sport. We will have a 150 square meter weight room. We will have premises for the physical, the covered hall. So somewhere, there are work times, there are regulatory, incompressible times. I’m asking for time.
But the girls’ cry of alarm already dates back to several months, several years ago. There, there is a delay compared to the other clubs, to the other teams. For this year, for the club to remain in Elite 1, what can be implemented?
I think that on this point, it is neither the Rowing, nor the town hall, nor the club, it is up to them to ask the right questions. Today, I say, since the start of the season with the squad that we have, a difficult squad. The obligations to play with a Federal 1 team, there are not 50,000 solutions. Today, there are seven of us in the pool: there are Blagnac, Montpellier, Bordeaux who are certainly untouchable. So we still have Lyon that we almost beat here. We have to finish ahead of Lille, Chilly-Mazarin and if possible, Lyon. It is largely possible.
We do not play in the same court on the side of the ASB, when we see Lyon, the monitoring, the equipment, the GPS … They do not have that the Neskak.
Yes then, GPS already, all the girls in all all the clubs don’t have GPS, so maybe you have to have GPS. Whatever we say, our DNA was social. So today, we have a social commission. We must not forget that we still have three girls who work today at Aviron Bayonnais in a university course. We also have other girls who went to Bayonne town hall. We also have companies that have helped us. It seems to us that being well in your professional life, in your family life, is important. After things, they will happen, but it also takes patience. Certainly we will be able to put certain things in place. We have already done this by increasing mileage allowances in relation to the price of gasoline. Because we are still in the mercantile business. But there is one thing that we will not be able to put in place, it is that we are in shortage of pillars, like many other clubs. We will not be able to find pillars, so we will have to find technical solutions, mental solutions, psychological solutions and psychological springs for the whole club and the girls when they are on the field. With a seasonal plan which means that in December we have two important games. Who are Chilly and Lille. Even if we can hope to have a good match against Bordeaux, but knowing that we had the penalty that we will take following Sunday’s game, it will still be complicated.
We will fight to the end, without any lies.
Should we resolve that there is no elite 1 female team at the ASB? Does the club have the means to achieve its ambitions?
Me, I think we should not resolve to that. We can’t at one point, in a club that has the structures we have, when we have a club that can have this partnership with Aviron Bayonnais, when we have a town hall that helps us as it helps us, when we know how important it is to have women and girls play in this district on the right bank. We are not going to settle for an Elite 2. Now, you have to know that there are 15 players on the field and that they have the keys in hand. Commitment, attendance at training, they are the ones who will decide. We can support, we can put things in place. We can put them in the best conditions. Afterwards, at a given moment, they are the ones who tackle, who attack, who stumble and who manage the strategy on the ground.
Do you plan to see the players again to talk about it?
We are – once again and this is not pejorative for us – a small club, a historic club which is still 100 years old, a little over 100 years old even now. A club that has lived through difficult times. So we will see what the board of directors will say. What happened this Sunday is still very difficult to live with. For the president, it’s not a big deal, when everything is going well, the president is useless. On the other hand, there, we must wet the jersey, it is the moment to say it with the board of directors, and including within the team, because it is necessary to know all the same that ‘inside the team, it’s not easy anyway.
With what has happened in the last few hours, did you or the board of directors consider resigning?
Especially not ! Because there is never a board of directors at the ASB that has resigned. We are not in a CAC 40 company. Today on the board of directors, there are people who have coached, who have played. There are the people who make the refreshments, the sandwiches. Who take care of the jerseys, the cash. We are all amateurs, volunteers and lovers of our club. And it’s out of the question for someone to resign, that’s for sure. There is a democratic exercise in a club. And if today, in addition to what we saw on Sunday, if we ignored the democratic exercise, that would be the end of everything. We have our feet on the ground. We have loved our club for a long time, we feel Green and Purple, as Pierrot Cacareigt would have said. And from there, we will fight to the end, without any lies. No problem.