The refusal of the Community of Communes Serein-et-Armance (CCSA) to integrate the club of partners “Yonne land of exploits” worries the sports associations of the territory. Yves Delot, president of the Florentine intermunicipality, wrote a letter dated March 6 to Patrick Gendraud, the president of the Department, to tell him his community did not wish to join the partner club. The CCSA is “primarily dedicated to the development of its territory, he explains, in his letter. It does not intervene in the field of animation.”
This news, which reached the ears of sports officials in the area, made them nervous. “We are in difficulty, fears Daniel Maillard, first Florentine deputy, and also president of the departmental athletics committee. Will we have the right to have the activities organized by the Department for the occasion? The Jean-Lancray stadium in Saint-Florentin and the future archery center in Brienon-sur-Armançon will they remain positioned to welcome foreign teams?
“No impact on Department support”
Concerns that the president of the county council wishes to calm. “This decision will have no impact on the Department’s support for the events around the 2024 Games in this territory, he assures. The same applies to the possible presence of Olympic teams in Saint-Florentin and Brienon-sur-Armançon. .”
The club is a structure which makes it possible to federate efforts to highlight Yonne, on the occasion of this international sporting event. “I have the impression that it is only to appear, considers, for his part, Yves Delot. My sports equipment is much more concrete. If there must be teams in Yonne, it is for these installations that they will come.”
Another reason for refusal
Another reason for his refusal: the lack of funding by the Department of the new aquatic center of Saint-Florentin, opened in February and inaugurated on Saturday April 15. “He had assured me of aid of €500,000 before the departmental elections,” he recalls.
“I had spoken in the conditional, defends Patrick Gendraud. I had not made a firm and definitive commitment, because I could not do it. When I make commitments, I keep them. We subsidized the shooting center archery in particular. Yves Delot makes a fixation on the swimming pool.”
Paris 2024: Yonne is ready to enter the Games
Pierre-Emmanuel Erard
