Single group in Iparralde?
- Biarritz and Baiona investigate whether they could compete on the Top14 if they remain on the same level.
“The chairmen of the rugby clubs Biarritz Olympique and Baiona, and their main sponsors (Capgemini, Alain Afflelou), will discuss the possibilities of forming a single Basque team. Prospective interviews and analyses will give us information on the feasibility of the potential project.”
The press release of the two teams has shaken the world of rugby – Biarritz and Baiona are groups that do not love each other too much – but there is reason to make the unification known now, as the journalist Laurent Zègre explained in the publication Sud Ouest:
Representatives who have circumvented the
term “merger” have explained that both clubs have a period of four months to audit the viability of the project and whether they could compete next season in the Top14 by hand. The administrative character of the project will then be determined, taking into account the history of both clubs. The special identity of each makes it impossible for one group to absorb the other. A third society is likely to be created.
Why now?The journalist
says there is no more to look at the Top14 League leaderboard. Baiona is twelfth and Biarritz last. The French league is very demanding, it requires
a great deal of budget, and in order not to fall into the precipice of the descent, Baiona and Biarritz have to increase their bags of dinero.En as far as budgetary classification is concerned, Baiona occupies the eighth position (EUR 18 million) and Biarritz has the tenth position (almost EUR 17 million). “1+1 isn’t always 2, but we’ll get it easier by the hand,” said entrepreneur Alain Afflelou.
What will it be called? What color? Where is it going to act? Those
questions are still in the air. The talks in the coming months will decide whether the two teams will reach an agreement or not, and which political parties and club managers will decide what matters to them and which will make them more angry than ever. Today, 58% of Internet users who have answered Sud Ouest’s question “Are you in favour of fusion?” said yes, while 33% answered no (9% do not know).
