Text version of the document linked in the original publication. The document’s images are not reproduced.
FOCUS A team ready to meet the next challenges On 17 December, at the League’s elective General Assembly, clubs from the Paris region voted by almost 70% to place their trust in the list led by outgoing President Jamel Sandjak. A renewed team, with an even stronger female presence, built to meet the new challenges of the coming four years. The League’s new Executive Committee around President Jamel Sandjak: Bruno Fouchet (Executive Vice-President), Ahmed Bouajaj (General Secretary), Valérie Colin (Treasurer), Brigitte Hamon, Joëlle Monlouis, Christine Aubere, Ghislaine Yesli-Kerrad, Stéphanie Frappart, Rosan Royan, Philippe Couchoux, Jean-Claude Daix, Gilbert Mathieu, and the district presidents serving as ex officio members: Philippe Collot (77), Jean-Pierre Meurillon (78), François Thisserant (91), François Charrasse (92), Nasser Gammoudi (93), Thierry Mercier (94), Claude Delforge (95). Clubs in the Paris region have made their decision. At the League’s elective General Assembly on 17 December, almost 70% endorsed the work of the team led by President Sandjak. While the clubs were clearly voting for a coherent project, they were also recognising the excellent record of the past four years. The result was unequivocal. With that mandate, the League’s new Executive Committee took office on 1 January. Although the composition of the new team reflects a desire for continuity, it also symbolises a stated ambition to evolve through new people whose experience, fresh perspectives and ideas will help our League continue its transformation. Club representation. A diverse and complementary range of skills. An even stronger female presence. These, in a few words, are the defining characteristics of the new Executive Committee of the Ligue de Paris Île-de-France. Change within continuity Six new members embody these priorities particularly well. Three of them, Daniel Voisin, Christine Aubere and Valérie Colin, are experienced club presidents. And with the arrival of Valérie Colin, Joëlle Monlouis, Christine Aubere and Ghislaine Yesli Kerrad, the Executive Committee now includes six women among its fourteen members. This near parity demonstrates a commitment to bringing more women into the governing body, not simply as a matter of principle but to benefit from all the expertise associated with diversity of gender and background. Six women among fourteen members There is change, then, but within a framework of continuity. While some faces have changed, the captain of the ship, President Sandjak, naturally remains at the helm, alongside, in particular, his General Secretary Ahmed Bouajaj, a valuable figure on the ground and the clubs’ first point of contact. This capable and complementary partnership is surrounded by men and women who also proved themselves during the previous term, including Brigitte Hamon, Rosan Royan, Philippe Couchoux and Gilbert Mathieu. Stéphanie Frappart, the first woman referee to officiate in Ligue 2, will continue to bring all her expertise to refereeing in the Paris region. Although he is not, strictly speaking, a newcomer, Bruno Fouchet will bring his experience as a former district president to his new role as Executive Vice-President. These men and women, who know one another well, will therefore continue their work with the same overriding concern: placing the club at the centre of everything. They will share this priority with the team’s six new members, whom we invite you to get to know better. 22 Valérie Colin: “It all rests on passion” Learning and understanding: these are what drive Valérie Colin’s daily life. In her professional life, where her role as manager of a large bank branch carries significant responsibilities. But also in the voluntary work she has carried out for eight years at RC Joinville. She came to amateur football through her children and through her husband, a coach who is now Sporting Director of this club with 750 registered members. Initially the association’s treasurer, Valérie Colin was co-opted as President on 26 January 2012. “I accepted because I did not want to shirk responsibility,” she says immediately. “There were not many volunteers and the club was in danger. Behind it were coaches who had put their trust in the management team, and children who wanted to keep playing. It was important not to let them down. I am fully aware of the social role we play.” An awareness of the club’s social role As is her habit, she therefore overcame the difficulties to put her experience in finance, management and training at her club’s service. “And it is not easy every day,” she admits. “We face many problems daily. A shortage of volunteers, facilities and support from elected officials: the list is long. It can sometimes weigh heavily. If we keep going, it is because it all rests on passion.” That is what continues to drive her today, as illustrated by the new responsibility she accepted as the League’s treasurer. In this new role she hopes to bring her financial expertise, while also finding, through contact with the institution, solutions that could help clubs. Learning and understanding in order to act more effectively. Joëlle Monlouis: “Helping clubs in the Paris region” With her family background and abilities, she was never going to escape sport. Joëlle Monlouis was immersed in it from a very young age, with a father who could have pursued a career as a professional footballer. She also had a passion and talent for athletics which took her as far as the French championships. As if that were not enough, her intellectual ability also enabled her to undertake outstanding legal studies and become a lawyer. In sports law, of course. A natural outcome reflecting the environment in which she grew up: a footballer father, a cousin playing professionally in the NBA and a mother who refereed football. A footballer father and a referee mother It was through her mother that Joëlle Monlouis entered amateur football in the Paris region. Danielle, her mother, decided to open a women’s section at the Goussainville club and asked her two daughters to help build the squad. That was how, at 28, Joëlle Monlouis obtained her first registration as a player. There she experienced “wonderful moments of sharing and the sense of camaraderie characteristic of women’s football. Although I knew the men’s game from following my father, the women’s game was unfamiliar to me, and I was won over.” Her professional commitments eventually forced her to leave the pitch, but not football. Quite naturally, and on her own initiative, she applied to join the League’s Statutes and Regulations Committee. “I wanted to give my time and legal experience to help the players, the clubs and the League.” Her skills were quickly recognised, and a place on the new Executive Committee followed naturally. A source of pride for her, as she intends to bring all her legal expertise and advisory skills to her new role. Another link in the strong and unbreakable bond that connects her to sport. 23 FOCUS Christine Aubere: “Continuing to develop women’s football and futsal” First and foremost, she is a football enthusiast. Christine Aubere developed a passion for the sport as a little girl. With no girls’ youth teams in the 1980s, she had to wait for the creation of the first cadet girls’ championship and a girls’ youth section at PSG before taking her first steps in club football. Selected for departmental and regional teams, she experienced elite football and Division 1 at PSG before illness prevented her from going any further at the age of just 18. She then wanted to put her experience to use in amateur football and, on 1 April 1997, founded Arc-en-Ciel, a mixed-gender football association combating discrimination through football. She founds Arc-en-Ciel, a mixed-gender football association combating discrimination But once again the call of the pitch proved strongest. Christine Aubere returned to PSG to play in Division d’Honneur in 1998. A transplant again forced her to stop playing, but not to leave football, and she returned to Arc-en-Ciel as a coach and club official. That continued until Issy Foot Féminin invited her to join. Christine Aubere put her boots on for one last time there, achieving promotion from PH to DHR, before joining the board and becoming President in January 2012. “Setting an example, humility, rigour, unity and being beyond reproach are the values on which I want to build,” she says. “I hope I can help the League’s Executive Committee continue to develop women’s football and futsal.” For this committed advocate, the passion remains undiminished. Ghislaine Yesli Kerrad: “Developing pitch-side medicine” On 1 January, she became the designated doctor on the Executive Committee of the Ligue de Paris Île-de-France. A logical progression for Ghislaine Yesli-Kerrad after successive membership of the medical committees of the Yvelines District and the League. It was under the sponsorship of Alain Frey, a recognised sports physician, and also through her children that Ghislaine Yesli-Kerrad entered amateur sport. Basketball, karate, judo and, of course, football with PSG, where she is currently the designated doctor for the amateur section: this practitioner, who works in the Orthopaedic Surgery Department of the Poissy and Saint-Germain-en-Laye Intercommunal Hospital, sees herself above all as a hands-on professional. Designated doctor for PSG’s amateur section “I have always accompanied my children to their sporting tournaments, and I always had my first-aid kit beside me,” says Ghislaine Yesli-Kerrad. “Medical supervision on the ground really is my area of work.” Within the League’s Executive Committee, she now wishes to “develop this pitch-side medicine. Consider injury prevention and management. And communicate the rules of a healthy lifestyle for athletes.” This broad remit could expand further through a proposal for medical consultations at the Morfondé Campus. 24 Jean-Claude Daix: “Enhancing the role of the coach” He holds coaches in very high regard, matching the high standards he expects of them. Jean-Claude Daix, the new coaches’ representative on the League’s Executive Committee, is already brimming with ideas to move things forward. “We need to ensure that coaching staff meet one another and that we bring them together as often as possible, so that they fully understand the technical policy we want to see implemented. We therefore need to communicate, raise the standing of the role, and also work with the other parts of our football community, particularly referees. I would especially like players to realise that coaches and referees are on the same wavelength.” Jean-Claude Daix can talk endlessly about the subject, reflecting his passion for this role of passing on knowledge. It is a passion discovered during an Initiateur 1 training course at the Essonne District. What was the catalyst? A man: Gérard Prêcheur, then the Departmental Technical Adviser (CTD), whom he would succeed a few years later. Essonne’s Departmental Technical Adviser for five years “For a long time, I really was only a player. I was fortunate to play at a good level in D3 and D4 at St-Leu, Évry and Corbeil. Then I became player-coach at Ste-Geneviève and thought I should obtain my qualifications. That was how I found myself in front of Gérard Prêcheur.” After a notable spell with Juvisy’s women’s team, Jean-Claude Daix in turn became Essonne’s CTD for five years before having to return to his company, Engie. He soon took on another role as technical head of PSG’s amateur section, then at Viry. “I coached first teams for a long time, but always paid attention to what was happening in the reserves and the other teams. I needed that overall view of a club and its structure so that I could help everyone progress,” he explains. When serious personal difficulties led him to want to give everything up, including his position as President of the Amicale des Éducateurs d’Île-de-France, President Sandjak found the words first to support him through that ordeal and then to persuade him to join his team and bring all his expertise. Daniel Voisin: “A daily challenge” The 55-year-old came to football as many parents do, by accompanying his son to a club. In Versailles. It was after the 1998 World Cup and the extraordinary wave of enthusiasm that followed. Daniel Voisin, who had played football outside Paris in his youth, was then more involved in athletics. But he committed himself for his son. “First you fill the water bottles. Then you run the line. You look after the team sheet. Little by little, I joined the Executive Committee. When it resigned because of financial difficulties, a few parents and I took responsibility, and I found myself President. That was fourteen years ago. Enabling young people to thrive and improve is a daily challenge. We have also enabled young coaches with no qualifications to train and become the driving forces within the club today.” President at Versailles for fourteen years This social dimension matters greatly to him and also connects with his professional work at the Yvelines Departmental Council. He now wants to bring all his hands-on experience to the new Executive Committee. 25