Amateur sport: “If we have to reimburse all our licensees, we are going out of business”

More than ten days since the second confinement was declared, involving the cessation of sports activities among amateurs, and here are the clubs facing a dilemma. On the Facebook page of Linas-Montlhéry, opponent of PSG (0-6) in the 32nd finals of the French Football Cup last January, a first license refund request has already arrived. “We will make a gesture if it lasts a long time, we can consider the free admission of our internship next summer, in the tournaments in which we usually participate but paying off seems very complicated to me,” says Michaël Bertansetti, at the head of a more than 600 members (180 € the subscription).

The Rueil-Malmaison Football Club has already received around ten requests of this type. “If we have to reimburse more than 1,300 licensees, we are out of business,” we are assured. Knowing that the institution has already paid the equipment bill (€ 130,000) and had decided to lower the contribution by € 30 (€ 230 on average) at the start of the school year, after the first confinement.

In basketball, Orly (378 members) has thus decided “not to collect contributions from those who pay in installments”, according to its president Arnaud Sevaux to guard against a wave of demands. “When a family pays four licenses for nothing, I understand they want their money back. We hope that we will be supported by the Federation and the Essonne committee. But if we have to do it, we will do it for all our licensees for the sake of fairness ”, declares François Ribière, youth team manager at the Team Morigny Étréchy club (198 licensees).

“Some people had not yet paid for their licenses, preferring to wait”

At the same time, some associations have seen their membership shrink. “Last season, there were 437 licensees, there are 310 so far,” indicates Zélie Amard, manager of the Saint-Cloud Paris Stade Français club in volleyball. Some people had not yet paid for their licenses, preferring to wait before committing. I am not sure that we find them after the release of the second confinement. This will necessarily have an impact on the club’s finances. We know we’re going to have to tighten our belts. “

Isabelle Penafiel, president of the handball section of the Paris Sport Club, has already quantified the lack of cash. “We lost about fifty licensees last spring to be around 640. For the moment, we are 415 without knowing how this will evolve. But we are close to € 50,000 in financial loss as we had estimated. “

Not to mention the drop in sponsorship because “we live a lot on aid from local partners, restaurants, bars which do not know today whether they will survive the crisis,” says Sébastien Papillon, president of Clamart in rugby. “The other impact of the reconfinement concerns the cancellation of the various events, such as the platforms for young people,” he continues. By canceling our entire rugby offer, we obviously have a shortfall. “