Nissa Rugby will play Pro D2 after all this season, after the French Rugby Federation's appeal commission overturned the club's administrative demotion to Nationale on Friday, ending weeks of uncertainty that had gripped the club's 120 employees.
Summoned by videoconference to convince the commission its sporting and financial project could hold up in professional rugby, the club's leadership succeeded in reversing the relegation A2R, French rugby's financial regulator, had imposed on July 24. The commission found the club guilty of "inconsistency and/or implausibility" in its budget, but limited the sanction to a two-point deduction, suspended in full, and cleared the club of all other charges.
The relief was widely shared. In a statement posted July 30, the club's own players had written of their fear the project could collapse within days: "Today, we are afraid. Afraid that in a few days, everything stops; afraid we'll have to tell our families we must leave, sometimes urgently, sometimes without knowing where we'll play tomorrow." Club president Jean-Baptiste Aldigé, who resigned July 17 alongside association president Patrice Prévot, is expected to reclaim his role at the next general assembly, having personally guaranteed 4.6 million euros of the club's funding shortfall through his company Sport Inside Europe. Nissa Rugby now opens its Pro D2 campaign at Biarritz on August 27.