“It’s a huge loss of earnings for the club“, alarmed Jean-Claude Estirach, this Monday evening. The president of the penya des Arrels of the USAP followed the announcements of Jean Castex. The Prime Minister announced new measures as of the start of the school year, Monday, January 3. For a period of three weeks, the outdoor events bar will be reduced to 5,000 people. Gone, therefore, the beautiful crowd observed during Boxing Day in Perpignan against Castres (nearly 14,000 people at the Aimé Giral stadium). In any case, for the moment.
“In the financial situation in which rugby clubs find themselves, and more generally all sports clubs, this announcement is dramatic“, recognizes Jean-Claude Estirach.
“But 5,000 people is a lesser evil.”
The president of the USAP Arrels is reassured, however. For the moment, the measure is only effective for three weeks; only the Challenge Cup meeting on January 15 against Lyon is concerned, the Top 14 matches taking place away. On the other hand, if this restriction continues beyond three weeks, the reception of Lyon in Top 14 on January 29 could suffer.
“It is ultimately the least bad we could have. If we had ended up with a gauge of 1,000 people, it would have been catastrophic. A thousand or zero, it’s the same. So 5,000 people is a lesser evil.“
The National Rugby League is looking this Tuesday morning on its new health protocol and the schedule to be changed. During the Christmas weekend, four of the seven scheduled Top 14 games had to be postponed due to Covid cases in teams. “When I see this I ask myself another question, concludes Jean-Claude Estirach. Will we end the season?“