Laurent Marti: UBB & French Liberation History

Almost a day like any other, in a professional rugby club. The players investigate weight training, collective training, massage and physiotherapy, while the administration is busy behind screens. All in apparent serenity, while, four days later, a huge clamor is preparing to sound, six hundred kilometers north of Bègles: from the outskirts of Bordeaux to the Stade de France de Saint-Denis, there is only one (big) not to cross, to play the final of the top 14, hexagonal championship at the firmament of the planetary circuit.

A deadline which is therefore offered to the Union Bordeaux Bègles (UBB) and its President Laurent Marti, who maugrée with a smile against this painful count of a final week where it is necessary “Even everything in an emergency, manage the ordeal of logistics, decide who invite or not by trying to spare the susceptibilities …” A real headache has no doubt, as much as a waking dream. Because all the stables of the country are now on vacation, except two which still covets, this Saturday, June 28, the Brennus shield, the supreme trophy of a French rugby in full swing: Toulouse and, therefore, the UBB.

An assumption between the two Cadors of the season: the Occitan institution which inspires fear and admiration for all its opponents by dint of collecting the cups, and the Aquitaine daguet which, at the end of May, finally discovered ecstasy, being sacred European champion-a paradoxically less posh test than the Top 14. which necessarily provides a taste of Viens-Y to the group of Laurent Marti. The man without whom, on the banks of the Garonne, the story would probably never have written himself in this way. Another manager of manager also situates it in … Toulouse, where the business manager Pilot Toptex, a distributor of promotional clothing and accessories who, in a sector in difficulty, displays a form as insolent as UBB players, with 550 employees and a turnover increasing constantly.

A sporting and entrepreneurial strike that does not encourage the original perigourdin to brew, which, for lack of real local support, does not forget to have been “Ten minutes to place everything” On the rugby side, in 2010, three years after having already engulfed a lot of money taking the lead of the club freshly resulting from a merger between the rival teams of Bordeaux La Cossue and Bègles la Pop. “I didn’t invent anything”tempers the boss with a tanned complexion, in moccasins, ecru pants and fitted navy blue shirt, seated at the large fatally oval table of an office, all the less flashy since its surface was half reduced to release storage spaces. “The model that I put in place is the same as in Toulouse, La Rochelle, or perhaps tomorrow, Bayonne: a strong anchoring in the territory, a real economy and a management of common sense where, in the field as outside, we aggregate skills by trying to instill a soul. Of course, this will never guarantee to get to the top, but at least the basics are there. ” And to operate a parallel with the company, “Where the human factor also predominates, except that interlocutors are no longer the public, but suppliers and customers, and that, from production to service, we keep the capacity to intervene directly. Which, without putting on the crampons, is not the case in rugby, where, being considered permanently and very media exposed, the pressure is much higher ”. Marti played at a correct level of 15 to 30 years, while having parallel his first box at 20 years.

“I don’t think Laurent has changed over time. There remains a big worker, full of energy, who has certainly launched alone in the adventure, but has been able to rely on listening, respect and resilience ”assures Patrick Laporte, the first UBB coach from 2006 to 2009. “A generous and faithful man, cultivating similar values ​​in sport and business, where even his competitors recognize the qualities of the character”, Adds the one who co -chases the lionesses today, the local rugby women’s team.

“To reach an ambitious goal, provided it is realistic, is within the reach of anyone, as soon as you put the necessary determination, commitment and minimum of intelligence”, Harts man in direct contact, who tutors spontaneously. An apophtegm which, in his case, germinates in Prigonrieux, a commune of Dordogne, ten minutes from Bergerac, where his family grew up, around parents to the Spanish and Italian ascendants accommodated in the black feet sauce. The mother pampers the hearth, which a brother and a sister complement, while the father climbed the levels that will lead him to the Directorate of Local Real estate.

Of a childhood without clashes or spark, from which the “Memories of love, freedom in the great outdoors and moments of boredom”, The son extracts step by step. What to do when you don’t like “Not too much school” ? English teacher? Gym? A vain figuration in biology college in Toulouse and it is ultimately a BTS of commercial action which ends up giving the tempo. Perhaps because in the title is the word “action”. From a case of advertising lighters which one day falls into his hands, Laurent Marti, ripened by a “Need independence, responsibility and challenge”jumps into the big bath, barely major, with the paternal blessing.

“I liked it”, He sums up a small forty years later, having in the meantime checked the textile and rugby boxes, a sport which he persists in warding off all the virtues, notwithstanding the repetitive affairs and hiccups that tarnish the coat of arms (violence, conjugals or other, drugs, racism …). Until confessing a “Avantage passion”, where the voter fickle (one in two elections, with a ladle) and a loving father (two daughters aged 30 and 27, from a previous union), willingly be eaten by “Exciting, stress and happiness”ultimately, when victory is at the end.

This was not the case last year, at the same period, when in Marseille, the UBB was swept in the top 14 final by a hurricane already from Toulouse (59-3). That evening, Laurent Marti had spoke in the locker room, to persuade his players Estourbis that on the contrary had to see a “Source of motivation” And that tomorrow would be another day. An inspiration which, like any registered test, only asks to be transformed.

1967 Birth in Bergerac (Dordogne).

1987 Creates his first company.

2007 Takes the presidency of the Union Bordeaux Bègles (UBB).

May 2025 Winner of the Champions Cup.

June 28 Top 14 final against Toulouse (9 p.m.).