The Six Nations Championship: Benjamin Morrell, the sporting boss, from ball to ball

Benjamin Morel last weekend at the helm of the Six Nations Championship promised sparks. If France XV retains a slight chance of winning the second consecutive coronation, a year after 2022, Ireland has all the cards to win, on Saturday, March 18, at the end of its match against England, the fourth. four major championships in its history. What’s more, a first in Dublin – which promises to extend the drunkenness celebrations on St. Patrick’s Day. A result that would please the main partner in the competition, the famous brewer from Erin Green. In short, enough to give Benjamin Morel a nice walk no matter what: “expect the unexpected”the French announced before the tournament.

At the age of forty-nine, Benjamin Morel—his many years in the Anglo-Saxon sport—was not as indiscriminate to Ben as to Benjamin—not one of the most famous of sporting leaders. Managing Director of the Six Nations since 2018, he will step down at the end of the tournament to join the French Football League in Professional (LFP). During his five years in office, he sought to throw off a century-old rival flick and he had his share “unexpected situations”as explained by L world Before the opening of this 2023 edition.

affiliate “unexpected situations” Sometimes out of the field. Like this year 2020 where, like all organizers of sports competitions, it had to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic, which suddenly came to interrupt everything – the Blues for example. has just been lost in Scotlandand they were about to receive Ireland.

“I never could have imagined that we would conclude the 2020 tournament in October, or that we would play the 2021 edition without an audience.hits the person who studied at the Paris Business School (ESCP). There were a lot of unexpected things, like this pandemic, but we were able to make a real change, by focusing a lot of interests, which was not easy with such competing countries on the ground. »

Hearing renewal

Landed in the oval world from the orange ball, Benjamin Morel has long served as the National Basketball Association (NBA) General Manager for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. And the transition from the “American-style” bout of sports – a closed league that finalized the scene before others – to a secular competition rooted in its traditions was not easy. “These are two completely opposite worlds. In rugby, we run fifteen matches a year, broadcast on public channels, and the tournament has a cultural and social value, beyond just the game.”identifies the person concerned.

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