Following the statements of Jason Baitieri after the World Cup at 9, the French Rugby League Federation issued an official statement.
It is with a misunderstanding mingled with deep sadness, that the FFR XIII has read the comments made by Jason Baitieri in the newspaper L'Indépendant, in the aftermath of the Rugby World Cup IX. (RLWC 9's)
Misunderstanding all the more because the respect he speaks of has always been granted.
Misunderstanding on his statement of "disagreement" with the governance of the FFR XIII for three years, without however having never previously expressed on this subject in any way that it was (orally, factually or openly) with the governance.
On the contrary, our governance even choosing him as the icon of France on the posters of the last European Cup and validating his nomination as captain of the national team, he the Franco / Australian, for the RLWC 9's and the tour Australian who followed .......
What greater brand of recognition, respect and trust can be given to a player !!!
We also do not understand the remarks about a possible lack of preparation.
Indeed, in addition to five days on the spot financially supported by the NRL, the FFR XIII has, at his expense, and at the request of the national coach, allowed the French delegation to arrive three days earlier in Australia in a concern for player comfort and optimal preparation of our national team.
To this must be added the tens of thousands of Euros invested in the last two years in medical equipment, weight training, recovery, technical resources, preparation courses (punctuated and decided by the coach), thanks in particular to support of the municipality of Port Barcarès and its Mayor Mr. Alain Ferrand, but also through a significant financial investment of the Federation since it is necessary to reimburse each course the travel expenses of players and daily allowances.
Also keep in mind the huge effort made towards all our teams in France for the past three years.
A competitive French team can not improvise, it is built, it is getting ready.
We have to work and invest on our U17 and U19, which will form the team of France of tomorrow. Allow these categories to confront the Nations that precede us today to fill these gaps and become truly competitive at the international level.
To do this, we have financed four tours over the last five months:
July: Tour in England for the U17 (2 tests matches)
September: New Zealand tour for U19 (4 test matches)
October: Australia tour for France A (5 test matches)
October: Turkey Tour and Royal Air Force Women's Reception (2 test matches)
June: Financing of England's rugby rugby reception (2 test matches)
Our teams in France have spread over our territory and in four different countries, playing a total of fifteen international matches.
Without doubt a first in the history of FFR XIII.
All these investments have been made to optimize the individual and collective preparation of our internationals.
In his statements, J. Baitieri also reports a lack of honesty of the Federation.
This claim, which he repeatedly and forcefully expressed to the STAFF of the France team, who reported it daily to the governance, focused mainly on the remuneration of the players of the national team.
The RLWC 9's Tournament Manual indicated funding of AU $ 42,000 (€ 25,800) awarded by the NRL to each Federation and distributed as follows; AU $ 32,000 (€ 19,650) for player compensation (€ 1,228 per player) and AU $ 10,000 (€ 6,150) to help the Federations cover some of the additional costs.
Once these financial conditions have been decided, we have thought about the possibility of financing an Australian tour as an extension of this RLWC 9's in order to offer our players the possibility of being calibrated against the best players on the planet and thus to better prepare the next World Cup 2021, England.
To do this, we sent 7 additional players who joined the France group to extend the tour of 13 days and be able to play two test matches XIII after the RLWC 9's.
A first test against U23 Kangaroos, a second against Western Rams.
Thus and since it seems to have been a lot of money on the spot by the captain, before he decides to abandon his family in the middle of the ford, some clarification is needed on the remuneration of players.
World Cup at IX pay per player (3 matches of 18 minutes):
Participation in the RLWC 9's
€ 1,400 guaranteed earnings (plus bonuses per game won)
Australian tour at XIII pay per player (2 match tests of 80 minutes);
Participation in matches against U23 Kangaroos and Western Rams (+ Prime per match won)
1 550 € NET of guaranteed remuneration.
Or 2 950 € guaranteed remuneration without any obligation of victory.
From Australia, the STAFF of the selection, informed us that J. Baitieri considered this insufficient, even going as far as to require that the Federation pays the players of the team of France the AU $ 2,000 (€ 1,228) paid by the NRL in addition to the € 1,400 of remuneration granted by the FFR XIII, which we categorically refused since the endowment of the NRL was an integral part of the overall remuneration of the players.
Information from comparable Federations, such as Lebanon (who beat us) and Wales, these nations have told us to pay their players only the AU $ 2,000 (€ 1,228) awarded by the NRL without any bonus additional.
In the end, for these 20 days of tour, the remuneration of the players of the team of France included bonuses is decomposed as follows:
RLWC 9's:
1 600 € NET , (in place of the 1 228 € proposed by the NRL)
Australian tour:
1 950 € NET
Thus, the players who participated in the two events will receive € 3,550 NET to which should be added a magnificent and rewarding journey both sporting and human.
It is also important to underline that the Federation has no late payment towards its internationals.
Better yet, to the best use of government funds reserved exclusively for French players listed NHC ( S portif of H aut N evel) by the Ministry, we pay in advance some of them based on their confidence that we let's agree and because we consider them to be players in the selection.
As such, Jason Baitieri benefited last November from an advance of € 1,673 NET for the international season 2019/2020.
It should be noted that to date, the Ministry has not included on the SHN list the women and rugby league players Armchair yet doubles world champions in title.
It seemed useful to us to make these clarifications to give to the greatest number the measure of our incomprehension and our deep sadness vis-a-vis the attitude and the remarks of this player.
There is something indecent vis-à-vis other teams in France, but also vis-a-vis the treizist world in general, given the considerable financial investment of the Federation for this Australian tour.
It is indeed a real privilege to live such an experience in the country rugby league.
The blue jersey is priceless !!!
The blue jersey certainly deserves better than this unjustified controversy, considering the care we take to place, according to our relatively limited means, our national teams on the road to success.
The men's France team is important, but it is not the only one, it is not conceivable for our Governance to devote all our financial efforts to this only national selection.
It is in this respect that, in the coming days, an important novelty concerning the development of the XIII of France will be communicated.
https://treizemondial.fr/communique...rugby-a-xiii-suite-a-laffaire-jason-baitieri/
