The FCG as a social player
Thanks to its involvement with young people and local associations for several decades, and even more so since the creation of its Endowment Fund in 2016, FC Grenoble Rugby is more than ever a major player in the city.
For several years now, the FCG has been offering rugby initiation and activities in schools. This venture has been perpetuated with the setting up of a real scheme called "FCG in my town". The Club's aims are manifold. With this scheme, it wishes to strengthen its social role among people who are far from the game, to convey the values of rugby (respect, courage, solidarity) and to spread the positive image of the FCG in the urban area. For the rugby school, it is also a means of detecting potential among young people who would not naturally come to play rugby.
Rugby & Values
Thanks to its involvement with young people and local associations for several decades, and even more so since the creation of its Endowment Fund in 2016, FC Grenoble Rugby is more than ever a major player in the city.
For several years now, the FCG has been offering rugby initiation and activities in schools. This venture has been perpetuated with the setting up of a real scheme called "FCG in my town". The Club's aims are manifold. With this scheme, it wishes to strengthen its social role among people who are far from the game, to convey the values of rugby (respect, courage, solidarity) and to spread the positive image of the FCG in the urban area. For the rugby school, it is also a means of detecting potential among young people who would not naturally come to play rugby.
Rugby Wednesdays
These initiations are reinforced by Rugby Wednesdays. A bus criss-crosses the town to pick up the children and transport them to the Bachelard stadium. This new activity is carried out in partnership with the city of Grenoble and the Usep.
Open doors, club visits & meetings
With the support of the Departmental Council, the club welcomes social structures (Children's homes, local mission, associations for the disabled, integration projects, etc.) and secondary school classes to visit the club's facilities, attend professional team training and of course meet its players (photos, goodies, invitations to matches, etc.). This high point and the exchange goes beyond the framework of sport and allows the Isérois, young or not so young, to discover the den of its training centre and head office which is the Stade Lesdiguières but also the jobs carried out within it during employee interventions. The FCG also regularly welcomes students from the 3rd year of secondary school for their internship to discover the company (20 to 30 per year) by observing all the departments (administrative, sports, professional and training).
As Guillaume Gouze, the former charismatic Administrative Director of the club, put it, "The FCG is certainly sportsmen and their coaches, but there is a whole SME behind it, with a management team, sales staff, accountants, secretaries... These meetings enable the students to hone their knowledge of the professional environment. We explain to the youngsters how the club works and then they attend the training of the pros. »
The elementary schools in the programme therefore benefit from the "rugby & values" initiation and discovery cycles, invitations to matches at the Stade des Alpes (1 child = 1 accompanying adult) as well as prizes for their tombola, fair and other fund-raising activities.
Every season for the last 3 years, around a hundred sports, cultural and charitable associations have been asking the club for their events (lottery, donkey rides, challenges, tournaments, etc.) and receive invitations to a TOP 14 or ProD2 match and possibly goodies thanks to the FCG Endowment Fund and the Departmental Council.
As Richard MARTIN, Administrative Manager of the FCG RUGBY support association and its endowment fund explains. "We first cultivated the school network by relying on the great work of the sports association. But what is positive for the whole club is that we have been able to diversify our activities around FCG in my town, especially around the professional team's matches. We have offered nearly 5,000 places to schoolchildren and charities so that they can attend FCG matches during the 2018/2019 season, and there were more than 6,000 invitations planned for 2019/2020. Events have also been initiated with friendly clubs in the region. »
With the associations
The FCG also wants to be a real player in social cohesion and mutual aid. The values of rugby on the pitch: combativeness, solidarity and self-sacrifice must also be found in everyday life. For many years, the players have been supporting non-profit associations in their local operations. This is notably the case with the association Un Maillot pour la Vie (A Shirt for Life) which helps children in hospital with playful afternoons with sick children. A day always eagerly awaited by the players, as Laurent Bouchet, FCG hooker, testifies: "We are privileged. Even if we work hard, we are lucky to be able to live from our passion, it's a luxury and we are aware of it. Spending a little time with sick children, trying to give them a smile by playing together is the minimum we can do. For several years now, I have been taking part in these moments of sharing with Un Maillot Pour la Vie. It's something really important for me. We come with several teammates and Buky, our mascot, whom the children love. It's a hard moment, you can't hide it, seeing sick children, it's all the injustice of life... it's also a moment that allows us to put things into perspective and makes us even stronger. When the children come afterwards to encourage us at the stadium it gives us that extra soul to surpass ourselves for them. ».
Thanks to an annual call for projects, the FCG, through its Endowment Fund, supports local associations through financial aid but also through a match day highlighting. The 3 2020 winners: Le Petit Matéo, Fabulou's, USJC Rugby will be presented as soon as circumstances permit.
For more information, contact FC Grenoble Rugby