Provence-Alpes Cote d’Azur. Digne-les-Bains is ready for its first amateur world rugby

The first world amateur in the history of rugby to enter the 22-meter! The international competition, organized by RC Digne, whose home team will represent France, will kick off on September 22nd for a week and the first major test in 20 countries, 600 players and 20,000 spectators are expected to attend. On the occasion of 60 matches spread over seven host cities in the Baka region.

Wednesday 19th April, 156 days from the first crust, the French Rugby Union capital of lavender hosted the France 2023 public interest group for a progress report on this project, which was born in 2018 from a trip from the RCD in Wales. “I was blown away by this organization and this extraordinary project,” confirms Patrick Poison, Vice President of FFR. “It’s a very good idea to do it in parallel with the Pro World Cup.” “The legacy will be social, educational and sporting,” confirmed local club president Jeremy Tessier, who grafted three educational projects into the event, including matching schools of participating cities through the oval. “Young people from Digne learn volcanology from schoolchildren in Tonga,” says the leader.

5,000 spectators at Stade Dignois

In all, €1,200,000 is needed to stage this world festival of amateur rugby, including €500,000 for the logistics of the selections and €700,000 for the realization of the event itself. “We have strong community support,” insists Jeremy Tessier. As for the sports level, the matches will be played in the form of meetings in two groups of fifteen minutes each during the group stages, and two groups of twenty minutes each in the final stages. This is to allow all traveling clubs to play the same number of matches across the ranking tournament in particular and also to level the matches. “The New Zealanders who arrived from Te Awamutu were hit hard, and the Tongans too,” breathes Jerome Tessier, grinning. The capacity of the Stade Jean Rolland in Digne-les-Bains, whose main stand has a capacity of 1,500 people, will be increased for the duration of the tournament to 5,000 people.