Decrypted. Basketball, football, tennis, rugby… How New Caledonia’s sports are seeking a revival

How to deal with situations that have a big impact on facilities, participants and schedules? Players in the New Caledonian sports world gave their answers.

Basketball on the backboard

“From the beginning of the crisis, I was in touch with everyone and worked immediately to restore it.” For four months, Cathy Portilli, secretary general of the Caledonian Basketball League, has been working to ensure her sport continues to grow. She, along with the rest of the Orange Ball players, has been working on a complete restructuring of play and training.

“The overall wish of the steering committee, provincial committees and clubs is to be able to resume activities as normally as possible so that young people can express themselves in different ways in sport”she explained. It was a complicated task, with the loss of permit holders in the northern province and a fire at the Anewe Hall in Vale do Tir in the southern province.

The availability of infrastructure is a global issue for New Caledonian sport. We must obtain community approval to use those that are operational. “At the Answata Stadium, only training sessions are authorised by the government. It is not possible to conduct matches.appointed technical and sports advisor Angelo François-Elocie. “In Vallée-du-Tir, the quality of the rooms varies, and in Rivière-Salée it is closed by the Nouméa town hall.”” added Thierry Durand, president of the league.

To get as many people as possible playing the game again, choice is necessary. Everything has been redesigned. “We have decided to cancel the Class B Regional Championships. We have kept the women’s and men’s 5-on-5 tournaments. We would like to continue from where we left off. Now, we are waiting for the community to give us the green light to open the room””, explains Cathy Poithili.

To host meetings, alternative solutions exist: the hall of the Melissa-Delaveuve complex, 6 km from Nouméa, and the hall of Michel-Castex in Dumbéa. The latter was used in particular for a 5-on-5 friendly match organized by the South Provincial Committee. This made it possible to resume activities for the elderly. “That bodes well for the rest of the tournament.”

Those determined not to stop basketball activities were able to find answers to other problems, such as funding travel for selectmen to participate in overseas activities. “We asked the IOC and its Oceania chapter for help to benefit from the Olympic Solidarity programme, which is done through the IOC and CTOS New Caledonia, and which means that we will significantly reduce the cost of the trip for our under-23-on-3 basketball team, which will only have to pay 15% of the costs, which is great for our youngest children.”the manager stressed. However, the league will fully cover the costs of the Under-15s participating in the Oceania tournament planned to be held in Australia. The workforce and technical staff have been reduced to make things easier.

Football in the penalty area

To take the pulse of local football, we turned to AS Magenta and its 350 licensees. The club, located at the foot of the nearby tower, has teams in all categories and more than two dozen volunteers. The serious troubles of recent months have not spared him. The clubhouse was raided and the equipment of the adult men’s team was stolen. It is impossible to access the synthetic field where all licensees train. As security cannot be guaranteed, the Noumea Municipality has closed it. Mediation with residents is needed to hope that he will be found soon.

“For a few weeks, we moved the training of the senior team to Cise de Koutio and the PLGC Provincial Stadium, and we have restarted the training of the youth group of the PLGC for the past two Saturdays.”“, testified Alexandre Pelluchon, president of ASM. The concern is whether young players will be able to return to their clubs quickly. The first grouping gives positive signals. “I think we’ve got 40 to 50 percent of our people back, but we’re hoping that starting next weekend, all of our members will be happy to send their kids home. We’ve got a lot more people from Saturday to next Saturday.”

This good recovery brings us hope, but it also makes us forget the difficulties that are coming. If the sponsors pay subsidies at the beginning of the year, the community’s subsidies will soon dry up. “We know very well that they will have very little aid next year, or even have it eliminated completely. For some people, they have also been directly affected by the abuse and, of course, they will have other financial options besides misfortune. I have been able to speak to some of them and we already know that 2025 is going to be very difficult. Analyze the president.

This recognized solid club remains very cautious and worried about the future. “For a lot of clubs, including important ones like ours, there is a real risk. Finding income is going to be very complicated. We have to find something new. We also have to be very vigilant about spending. “The whole Caledonian sporting community is going to have to find other relays so that our young people can continue to play sport.” It will also be a real challenge for the best teams in the region to participate in the Oceania Champions League in the next few years. This tournament alone will require a budget of 5-6 million XPF.

There is also a question mark for clubs based on the islands. They now face fewer flights to mainland France and higher travel costs. In order to keep everyone active, the Caledonian Federation said its technical department is working on municipal and provincial championships. At a press conference last Monday, President Gilles Tafferge also recalled the different formulas used in the past, especially that of the provincial championships, which adopted a playoff system at the end of the season to determine the regional champions.

Padel saves tennis

Another major league on the Cayous: tennis. Its infrastructure has not been damaged at all by abuses. The recovery of the Mondor and Paita sides is still going slowly. But the president, Olivier Ledan, says that other clubs have made a good start at the reception in the Bush or Nouméa. As in all other disciplines in the region, the main problems that emerge today are financial.

The French Football Federation is supporting the salaries of five members of the league’s staff, but other issues have arisen. “Everything to do with travel plans to our territorial training centre or supporting young talents like Heremana Courte (last Pacific Games individual gold medalist) is currently completely impossible to live on subsidies and sponsorships, and the two branches are not far from being broken.”

The steering committee is looking at different ideas to make the most of the league’s facilities in Uontoro and bring in revenue. “We need to reinvent an economic model. The construction of new cricket courts is a good source of income. We could also build pickleball courts sooner than expected, a project incorporated under the umbrella of the French Tennis Federation. Six months of its promotion could yield other interesting benefits, but it would mean sacrificing tennis courts, for which we have to wait due to the public service mandate on our Federation’s website.

The 2025 ATP Challenger in Noumea is still under consideration. “It will help us to highlight our event to ensure that the sponsors it attracts are also interested in the league and, although it may seem contradictory in the current context, so far almost every sponsor is on the right track. We have found a new championship partner. Our meetings with the provincial government and the government have made us feel reassured about their involvement in the tournament. “For the ATP, this challenger is very important in this place and at this time. “We are quite optimistic about the holding of this year’s championship due to the current context.

Rugby hopes pole can change Test

What about rugby, one of the most effective leagues for developing young talents? We understand that despite the crisis, the New Caledonian Hope Centre is not in financial danger. The French Football Federation provides 80% of its operating budget. Of the 20 residents, six will go to France in 2024 and the seventh will follow them at the end of the year.

In more practical terms, the structure is operating in degraded mode. The training ground closes at 6pm and the usual boarding facilities are unavailable. The pole has managed to train at the Nouma-Dali Stadium in Noumea for the rugby portion of the training and has been able to practice bodybuilding at the Dick-Ukiwe High School in Doumbea.

For the youngest licensees, two gatherings could be organized, two weeks ago at the Pentecost Stadium and last Saturday at the Pont de France Stadium. About a hundred trainees came. Players over 17 and seniors are missing. Competitions are suspended until further notice. Only the Tens Rugby Championship has been able to go down. The Federation hopes to hold the championship in the last two months of the year. In the meantime, she is trying to take stock of the professional situation of the volunteers involved in the Caledonian Oval.