“Startups are always complicated, that’s no surprise. Not everything was perfect. » Wednesday September 13, during a press conference, Michel Poussau took stock of a first week of the World Cup which he speaks of as “a great success”. However, the executive director of the tournament admitted some failures in the organization, notably Saturday September 9, at the Stade-Vélodrome in Marseille, for the England-Argentina match, and at the Stade de Bordeaux during the Ireland-Romania match.
During these two meetings, many supporters complained about the lack of communication – particularly in transport – and the difficulties in entering the enclosures. As a result, some of them missed the kick-off, and even the first thirty minutes of the match in Marseille. “We apologize to these fans,” added Michel Poussau. But we know that we are capable of finding adequate solutions. »
Among them, greater referral of supporters – particularly for stadiums located on the outskirts of cities – and better communication upstream to direct them more effectively to their place, thanks for example to messages sent to telephones and emails. These two measures were put in place on Sunday September 10 in Marseille for the match between South Africa and Scotland.
For this match, there were also more volunteers mobilized around the stadium (300 in total), all recruited from the region. The organizers declared that a “reserve of volunteers” could be mobilized if necessary for other meetings.
Refreshment bars open “long before the match”
“We experienced difficulties managing the flow of spectators who did not know the Stade-Vélodrome [for Saturday’s meeting], but there were no problems on Sunday,” explained Jacques Rivoal. The president of France 2023, the public interest group organizing the event, admitted that the “dysfunction” was their responsibility.
Until then, it was mainly the public authorities who had spoken out about these incidents. While ensuring that there was “no structural problem”, the Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra was firm on Monday: “this must not happen again”, a- she declared on FranceInfo, adding that she wanted to “personally take care of each of the details” so that everything “is impeccable”. This is because, with the hosting of this Rugby World Cup, France is playing big with regard to its image, after the fiasco of the final of the Football Champions League, in May 2022, and a few months before the organization of the Games.
To avoid further difficulties linked to entry congestion, Julien Collette ? the general director of France 2023 ? encourages fans to get to the stadiums as early as possible for the next matches, and “to take advantage of the on-site entertainment”. He also promised that refreshment bars would be open “long before the match.”
Their good management will also be another challenge of the new series of meetings beginning, Thursday, September 14, with France-Uruguay, at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium, in Villeneuve-d’Ascq (North). From the opening match between the Blues and New Zealand, fans present at the Stade de France (Saint-Denis) complained about the long queues to buy drinks, and the lack of reserves.
“We were faced with the September heatwave,” explained Julien Collette. Fans consumed even more. We had predicted sufficient consumption based on previous records, but these records were broken. We didn’t have supply problems so much as refrigeration of barrels, hence the queues. »
