Rugby. Commentary Toulouse is preparing, behind the scenes, to “deliver the most beautiful of the world cups”
By Anthony Assemat
Published on
It is above all a symbolic anniversary but also a good spur to move up a gear and remind us that a huge event awaits Toulouse in a year. On September 8, 2023, the Rugby World Cup will begin in France with the long-awaited opener between Fabien Galthié’s Les Bleus and New Zealand.
J-365: a counter unveiled
This Thursday, September 8, 2022 at 4 p.m., elected officials and organizers will unveil the official counter for the number of days that will separate us from the kick-off of the Rugby World Cup. It will be installed at the bottom of the Jean-Jaurès alleys, in the Pink City, as for Euro 2016.
Toulouse is one of the sites that will host the matches of this World Cup. In the Pink City and in Occitania, it is the former player-proteus of Colomiers (Haute-Garonne) Cédric Coll, from Ceret (Pyrenees-Orientales), who is at the helm of the organization of the event and who manages a team “150% invested”, he smiles.
365 days from the great rugby festival, which all lovers of the oval hope will be triumphant with the hope of seeing the teammates of Charles Ollivon and Antoine Dupont rewarded with the Webb-Ellis trophy, Cédric Coll answered questions fromnews.fr.
“Delivering the most beautiful of the world cups”
News: What is the organizational system for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Toulouse and Occitanie?
Cedric Coll: “15 people are dedicated to it full-time, and around ten will be recruited from October 2022. Two people are also dedicated to the training and employment aspects.
Not to mention the 4,000 volunteers throughout France, including 500 to 600 in Toulouse alone.
On the pure organization, to take a metaphor, World Rugby owns the walls and we are the lessors of the apartment for four years. Everything we do and decide is subject to validation by World Rugby.
The World Cup in France is a sprint that lasts three years and we live it every day, with a lot of intensity and sharing. The objective is to be the World Cup of the territories and to deliver the most beautiful World Cups possible”.
At the end of August 2022, a Rugby Village was installed on the forecourt of the Stadium. What conclusions do you draw from this operation?
CC : “It was a great party, with a lot of families. It’s important to create interactions with the sponsors and the public. There were William Servat, Emile Ntamack, Yann Delaigue… A lot of rugby schools were there too.
The Webb-Ellis World Cup trophy was present and I specify that it was the original, and not a replica! He was on a stele and protected by a security service. It should be known that even us, members of the organization, do not have the right to touch, or only with gloves when it is necessary to transport it. The last to have really touched the trophy are the South Africans, winners in 2019!
This great popular enthusiasm, we hope to see it for the passage of the World Cup Train at the Matabiau station in Toulouse, on Monday October 31 and Tuesday November 1. For the occasion, I would like to create an event in the heart of the city”.
“There are places left for each match”
The Rugby World Cup is marked by strong popular French and global enthusiasm. In Toulouse, are there tickets left for the five matches that will take place at the Stadium?
CC : “What is certain is that there are places left for each poster in Toulouse. Few, but there are still some, as there are places left for each of the 48 matches of the competition. Given the demand, we will do disappointed, obviously.
After the pack sales period, dry sales will take place in two phases: from Tuesday, September 13, 2022 for members of the 2023 Family, and from Thursday, September 15, 2022 for the general public.
The only channel to order tickets is via tickets.rugbyworldcup.com.
Already planned animations
What activities are already being carried out in Toulouse for this World Cup?
CC : “For our part, we are concentrating on the Stadium and its forecourt. We plan to first organize a large Rugby Market in the Jean Mermoz hall, where spectators from all over the world can meet. We will show the know-how local craftsmen and the hospitality of Occitania. In addition, a XV of gastronomy has been published, with a recipe book. In Occitania, several chefs are part of it, such as Michel Sarran, Gilles Goujon, Pierre Augé and Franck Putelat , with Guy Savoy as captain.
It is practically recorded that there will be a Fan zone, but the work is to be carried out with Toulouse Métropole to find out where it will be located.
With National Education, we are carrying out the Mêlée des Choeurs project, where national anthems will be learned by children and sung in stadiums during matches. Calls for applications have been launched.
The France 2023 Rugby World Cup is also the wheelchair rugby competition, which will take place between the group stages and the final stages. The Toulousain Jonathan Hivernat is the captain of the France team, but there will be no match in Toulouse.
What can amateur clubs hope for?
CC : “The Campus 2023 project was designed to learn from 2007 and leave a real legacy of the World Cup that will take place here. Rugby had seen a sharp increase in licensees, but the clubs were not structured enough. We must avoid amateur clubs in order to welcome licensees.Our objective is to sustain 800 jobs in clubs for training.
You have to create a link with the amateur world. For example, clubs will have privileged access to the competition with a quota of 100 places per club. The French Rugby Federation (FFR) offers a cash advance repayable in three to four years.
The Endowment Fund, baptized Rugby au Coeur, has already financed some twenty projects, with calls for applications launched every three months. We ensure the correct geographical distribution of these projects around three pillars: sport-health, education and equal opportunities.
Reminder of the five posters that will take place at the Toulouse Stadium
Here are the five matches that will take place at the Toulouse Stadium for the 2023 Rugby World Cup:
– Sunday September 10 (1 p.m.): Japan-Chile (Pool D)
– Friday September 15 (9 p.m.): New Zealand-Namibia (Pool A)
– Saturday September 23 (2 p.m.): Georgia against the winner of the Qualifying Tournament
– Thursday September 28 (9 p.m.): Japan-Samoa (Pool D)
– Sunday October 8 (9 p.m.): Fiji against the winner of the Qualifying Tournament
“Make the teams stay on site as much as possible”
Japan will establish its base camp in Toulouse, and Samoa will be installed in Montpellier. Have things already been noted for their welcome and their stay?
CC : “A regional delegation is currently in Japan, a year before the competition. It will be important to welcome the Japanese in good conditions, the players and their management as well as the supporters. Discussions are underway on potential events and meetings have already taken place with the Umih (Union of trades in the hotel industry) on learning notions of the Japanese language for employees in the sector.
More generally, we want to keep the teams that will be eliminated from the pools as long as possible and as the competition progresses, to promote rugby in our region, in schools… ‘the organization will cover the hotel nights for the teams if necessary. For the recovery of players, we have also extended the minimum number of days between two matches to five days.
Friday, September 2, 2022, the dismissal of Claude Atcher, the general manager of the 2023 World Cup in France, was presented by the Public Interest Group (Gip) following revelations about alleged “alarming managerial practices altering the functioning of the structure”. Will this have consequences for the organization in Toulouse?
CC : “There will be no impact on the work done in Toulouse and Occitania. We continue to work together with all the partners. For the rest, I will not comment on these cases, an investigation is in progress”.
Launch of the practice of “Céci rugby”
Thursday, September 8, 2022 at 2:30 p.m., the president of the Departmental Council Georges Méric, represented by Line Malric, vice-president in charge of Sport, Sport-health and Alain Gabrieli, vice-president in charge of People with disabilities, will launch a new inclusive discipline open to people with visual impairments, unique in the world, in honor of the “J-365” before the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France: the “Céci rugby”.
A demonstration will be given at the Ernest Wallon stadium in Toulouse, in the presence of adult volunteers (blind people, people with visual impairments and people without visual disabilities), during which the creation of a unique rugby ball which emits a sound in order to favor the reference in space.
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