” Everybody is happy ? »wondered Vincent Tulisue, former president of Hyères-Toulon, Tuesday evening. Because the shortcut is easy, and the wink from the story is nice: four days after the European title of Paris Basketball, which had bought back its sporting rights to evolve in Pro B in 2018, HTV is back in Pro B , crowned French NM1 champion thanks to a final victory against Tours (92-77).
The Jean-Louis Borg effect
Oumarou Baradji and HTV flew through the NM1 season. (Photo: Sébastien Grasset)
And for now, choose your word: it is both unexpected (© Vincent Masingue) and improbable (© Jean-Louis Borg). Drafted into Nationale 1 in June 2023 after more than a month of anguish following the refusal to go up from Lons-le-Saunier, Hyères-Toulon presented itself on the starting line with only one desire: not to relive a season again as bad as last year. “When we said we were playing it safe, it was the truth”proclaims William Dumas, the general manager. With a budget of 1.4 million, the recruitment had also been done in this sense: no star, few players referenced in the division, young people and unknowns, such as the Canadian interior Moses Greenwood (21st rating this year). Tuesday), spotted in Luxembourg. “There is no big talent but a aggressive team which manages to dominate the NM1 thanks to a remarkable state of mind and exceptional defense”supports Vincent Masingue, present with his jersey from the 2000s under the basket.
Or rather, there was a star: on the bench, almost a child of the club, back in business eight years after his last match coached under the colors of JDA Dijon. HTV advisor in the shadows all these years, Jean-Louis Borg agreed to rekindle the flame last year. And the result was immediate… ” What did you expect ?! »laughs the captain Maxim Eugenepresent at the club since his younger years. “What he did is incredible and we thank him 1,000 times for it. » The young generation may have been destabilized at the start by the grumpy methods of the former leader of OS Hyères (1981/90) but the Borg touch has not disappeared, even after eight seasons in parentheses: second best defense of Nationale 1, and an unexpected title at the end. “We benefit from an outperformance in terms of coaching from Jean-Louis who has nothing to do in this division”applauds Vincent Masingue.
A surviving club
4,000 spectators in Toulon for HTV – Tours, a rare enthusiasm in the Var. (Photo: Sébastien Grasset)
This story is also the praise of resilience. How many times could HTV have disappeared in recent years? We can no longer count the hard blows: the demotion to Nationale 3, the administrative closures of the two halls in Hyères (les Rougières and l’Espace 3000), the 400,000 euros hole in 2022 which threatened to send the club into the league regional, the resignation of Laurent Sciarra one week before the resumption during the return to NM1, the relegation of 2023…
And yet, a historic bastion of French basketball, a club with thirteen seasons in the elite (2001/12, 2016/18), Hyères-Toulon reappears in the professional world. “I remember when the Mayor came to see me in my bar to tell me that I should help the club”breathes William Dumas, the man who took over the management of sporting affairs in Nationale 3 in 2018. “I found myself at the Golf-Hotel with Valentin Castel (the ex-coach, editor’s note) and five guys. I said to myself: wow, we’ve come a long way! » The horizon was set: Nationale 1, within four years. Far from the 4,000 spectators at an almost full Palais des Sports this Tuesday, an absolute rarity in Toulon, the first match in NM3 was then played in front of 500 people in Rougières against UMS Montélimar (95-61). That day, a certain Jean-Louis Borg had taken his place in the aisles. Certainly far from suspecting that it would be him who would emerge, less than six years later, his favorite club from purgatory…
In Toulon,
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2024-04-16 21:47:02
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