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Marc Palanques, return to rugby league what he gave me
WRITTEN BY JACK · DECEMBER 1, 2017
We met Marc Palanques, president of the French rugby league , which looks back on his first 16 months of presidency and on the upcoming sites.
Marc, can you introduce yourself in a few words?
I am a former rugby league player from Carcassonne, I played 13 seasons in Elite 1 during which I won 3 championships in France and 4 French Cup. I was captain of the French team and was one of the top 10 players of the 1986 World Cup. Then in 1989, after my career, I had the opportunity to create a first sports shop. In total I launched 13 stores before moving to Intersport. I managed several stores and I was also a region administrator for the brand.
Why did you decide to become president?
In 2014, I had the opportunity to sell my business and it gave me free time that I had not had for years. At that time, the club of Carcassonne was in difficulty and one came to seek me so that I bring my competences on the management of company. So I became president of ASC XIII and it allowed me to realize where was the rugby league after all these years away from this environment. I was surprised to discover the state of French rugby union and in the work meetings I took a fresh look at the situation. Little by little, the idea of putting together a list against the old mandate has come a long way and when it was necessary to find a leader, the other members asked me to be one. I took some time to think about what it would bring and I finally agreed to try the adventure in order to return to rugby league what he had given me.
After 16 months of presidency, what initial assessment do you make?
I come from the world of business and confront me with the associative world, it's complicated!For me it was clear that the moment I agreed to apply, the federation had to be run as a business and not as an association. This change was not easy and even led to some conflicts, but I think it was essential. Everyone agrees that rugby league is not at its best so it's time to try a new management. I built my federation with departments and presidents at their head: training, high level, medical, organization development, communication, regulation and organization of events. People are placed in positions relative to their skills and nothing else.For example, the regulatory department is a public prosecutor at the head. Then, every month, the executive board meets to set the direction of federal policy. All that did not exist a year and a half ago. In addition, we discovered a difficult financial situation whereas during the congress of June 2016 the former president affirmed that the accounts of the federation were positive.This made it difficult for us to find solutions to improve this financial health. Unfortunately, I had to make redundancies and today the federation is starting to regain some balance. There has been a real structuring work that will be beneficial for the future.
Why does the XIII struggle to fascinate the French?
I do not think he has difficulty in passionate French but to be passionate it must be seen! When I arrived I made a point of meeting television stations to understand why the XIII was not broadcast. I managed to seduce the channel The team that aired France-England in October 2016 with a very good score of 600 000 viewers. That's what makes me say that if we show them XIII, they follow it! We then televised the final of the championship of France and the Coupe de France for which we exceeded the 250 000 televiewers each time. I do not understand this silence of some media in relation to rugby league and we have almost no article in a newspaper like The team. It's up to us to work in the same direction to develop and show rugby league. After when I see the stadium in Narbonne which is not filled for a final championship of France, I think that at times the treizistes shoot themselves in the foot. It is a long-term job, we must make our new adventure understand the public to fill the stadiums and be broadcast on television.
There was the World Cup with 3 defeats of the blues in 3 games, what assessment can we draw? What is the program for bruises?
I'm disappointed and it's a failure for me because I wanted to be in the quarterfinals. Then things are explained even if they do not apologize. We left with a very young team because of many injuries of the holders. We tried to put the players in the best possible arrangements by starting earlier in Australia for example. But the key to this failure is having to play our final on the first match. We knew we had to beat Lebanon because it was not against the two finalists that we were going to do it. It should not be missed and unfortunately we have not managed to be up to it. Many observers say that it is tragic to lose against Lebanon but I think that these people have not looked well at the team that is made up of players who play in NRL. The rest of the competition, they were not ridiculous and they made equal play with Tonga in the quarterfinals.
It's like I said a failure and a disappointment because we had good results in the youth against the English and we also beat Jamaica who have players of the English championship. But we still saw good things, we must not throw everything from this World Cup. We must continue to work and not break up so that we can continue to progress. Now heading for the 2021 World Cup, we have to prepare a France group for this deadline. We will be able to meet the team of France every six weeks to prepare them better, thanks to the support of the mayor of Barcarès and a new shape of the finances of the federation.
In October / November 2018, the French team will receive New Zealand and will travel to England. We are also working on the creation of a European 6 Nations tournament, nothing has been done yet, but we are working hard and I am hopeful about it.
Marc Palanques with Luc Dayan, project leader of the regional championship.
http://treizemondial.fr/marc-palanques-rendre-rugby-a-xiii-qu-il-donne/
