Sporting capital

Let there be light: funding from city hall will make all the difference for Nice rugby club in 2010

Lighting may seem like a fuss over nothing but when it comes to live sport, it makes all the difference. It also doesn't come cheap. In fact without a one million euro cash injection from the city hall the new flood lights at Stade des Arboras would never have been erected.

The rugby club is just one of a number of sports organisations in Nice who have benefitted from Christian Estrosi’s election to the mayoral office in 2008. "When I took over at the head of the municipality, the state of sport was not good," Estrosi recently explained to The Riviera Times, "so I wanted to inject momentum. Sport plays a significant role in enabling integration whilst teaching the value of sharing and cohesion."

Estrosi clearly considers sport to be very valuable: over the past two years he has brought a number of international sporting events to Nice, funded many local sport projects and spearheaded campaigns to bring the Winter Olympics and the Francophonie Games to the city.

Over the last few months alone Nice has hosted the Louis Vuitton Trophy, announced the arrival of a new annual ATP tournament (to be held immediately ahead of the French Open) and won the 2012 World Figure Skating Championships.

The campaign for the Francophonie Games (the French-speaking equivalent of the Commonwealth Games) was also successful. "I am particularly proud that Nice is hosting the Francophonie Games,” says Estrosi, “because although France traditionally hosts big international events, like the Football World Cup, it hasn't held a large multi-sports games since the Winter Olympics in Albertville in 1992."

The city money invested in campaigning and preparing for these big sports events is, for the mayor at least, absolutely justified. "The money invested in our attempt to win the 2018 Winter Olympics was far from sunk," he argues, "but rather it made an important contribution to the wider recognition of Nice as a sporting capital."

Estrosi claims that the majority of the city's sports budget is directed towards making sport accessible for everyone with a focus on three areas: equipping districts with facilities; making these facilities easily accessible for young people; and getting leading athletes on-board to help develop and promote good sportsmanship.

In 2009 almost 100 clubs across the city received funding, which is a 20 per cent increase on the previous year. "In these times of crisis it seems important to help families experiencing difficulties," he continues, "so, to ensure that everyone has access to sports facilities, I set up free or half-price admittance system for children with low-income parents."

That's not to say that there hasn't been a considerable sum directed to grander projects too, including a huge stadium currently under construction in Saint-Isidore. Former mayor, Jacques Peyrat, tried several times over a period of many years to get backing for this project but, under a cloak of controversy, he failed to get anything off the ground. It was only with the election of Estrosi that the wheels began to turn, and turn fast.

It would seem as if his confidence in the stadium is beginning to pay dividends too, it having been selected as one of 12 stadiums to be used should France's campaign to host Euro 2012 be successful. "As the fifth largest city in France, I could not imagine Nice absent from such an event once again [it was not involved in the ‘98 World Cup]. So it was very important to me that the new stadium was constructed using the eco-framework for Euro 2016 stadiums."

Whilst this new model of green sports technology is being built, the nearby Stade des Arboras is revelling in the new light. "Being able to play on Saturday night will make a massive difference," says Anthony Hill of RNCA. "Because most of the other teams in the region have to play their matches on Sunday afternoons, we will eliminate a lot of competition and will attract rugby fans who support other local teams to our games." And the lights are not the only development: they have also used money from the city hall to flatten the pitch and are in the process of building a second, fully covered and solar-powered grandstand.

Hill, who has been with Nice for two years, says the previous authorities didn't give the club anything, now he couldn't be happier: "The mayor and the sports depute, Benoit Kandal, have been fantastic, behind us 100 per cent. I think they realise the value of rugby for the town.” Hill points out that, as one of Nice's few winter sports, rugby is a draw card for tourists during periods when there's traditionally a lot fewer visitors: “For a small financial investment, they get great publicity."

Hannah Marshall