Discontent is growing in amateur football. Many clubs are protesting the classification methods used to establish the final classifications for the prematurely stopped 2019-2020 season, but also the lack of financial aid to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Patrick Gonzalez, president of AS Saint-Priest, emblematic club of Lyon amateur football, is one of the spokesmen of this anger. “Amateur football is dying”, he alarmed, this Wednesday evening in after foot on RMC.
His club is relegated to National 3, due to the maintenance of the system of three climbs and three descents between this fifth division and National 2. However, this rule has not been applied for any other championship managed by the French Football Federation. All others are subject to only one promotion-relegation.
“We were not listened to and there was no consultation. The district and league presidents never asked us for anything. We wake up, we organize, because it is completely arbitrary and dictatorial . (…) We cannot say to Pierre that there is a regulation, to Paul that there is another and to Jacques that there is yet another “, indignant Patrick Gonzalez .
“We just pay and keep silent all the time”
With regard to the economic situation of amateur clubs, the president of the club where Youri Djorkaeff and Nabil Fekir went, in particular, charged the French Football Federation. He awaits a gesture: “How can we live? The club presidents and the steering committees are volunteers. We are social. We are in the heart of the city. If football collapses, society will be healthy very bad. Today, we are fed up with it. We only pay constantly and we have to be silent all the time. We can’t take it anymore. Maybe Christmas Le Graët listens to us ” .
“We are 15,000 amateur clubs, he warns. We sent three letters to Mr. Le Graët, without response, and one to our minister Roxana Maracineanu. No response yet. We asked for an emergency fund of 300 million euros for aid to amateur football. (…) Our FFF has the wind in its back, it is making a loan over twenty years and will prevent the death of French amateur clubs. Over the past four years, 4,000 clubs have filed for bankruptcy, especially in rural areas. This is serious. “
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