We are relaying the information sent to all Breton press. Open letter.
Tennis: Open Letter to Our Friends from Binic-Étables-sur-mer
Dear friends of the Binic-Étables-sur-mer tennis club,
We are reaching out to you with this open letter to insistently ask you: do not contribute, whether intentionally or not, to the demise of our club, the Saint-Quay-Portrieux Tennis Club (SQPTC).
If we allow ourselves to address you publicly, it is because we are two neighboring and friendly clubs. We have supported each other for many years. We have even formed joint teams in certain championships in the recent past. And your club has kindly lent us courts during our international Open, which has become the largest tennis tournament in summer in Brittany. Everything should therefore contribute to ensuring that these friendly and cooperative relations continue, to the benefit of both our clubs and our two towns.
Very amicably, we want to express that we were very surprised and saddened to learn that you were considering making an offer to take over the management of the tennis site in Saint-Quay-Portrieux, in response to the call for expressions of interest launched by the municipality – an offer that would compete with ours and, if accepted, would signal the death knell for our club.
Do you realize all the consequences of the offer you might submit, should it be accepted? It would seriously threaten our Tennis School, which is experiencing significant growth and to which many residents of Quincé are attached. It would also mean the end of our international tennis Open, which brings together nearly 370 participants each year and is very dear to many vacationers. This is a tournament that has gained international recognition and attracts many elite players from French tennis each year.
It would also severely impact the international Open of Val-André, which, together with our Club and that of Pospoder in Finistère, created the "Summer Challenge of Major Breton Tournaments" – a challenge that would not survive this. So we say this to you amicably but firmly: do not contribute to displacing our century-old club from the site it has occupied since 1922 and which works so hard to enhance the attractiveness of our regions. Do not contribute to destabilizing a club that the FFT has awarded the labels "Roland Garros Club" and "Remarkable Site."
Moreover, observe the incongruous crisis that your offer, if submitted, could open. The president of the Brittany Tennis League, Pascal Piriou, who is also the vice-president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT), has sent us a statement in support of the offer we will submit – a statement that we will attach to our application file. The president of the Côtes d'Armor Tennis Committee, Olivier Bothorel, has sent us a similar statement, which will also be attached to our application offer. So, would it be conceivable that the Binic-Étables club could disregard these messages of support from the two main leaders of our federation? We do not want to believe that. Two friendly clubs, belonging to the same sports federation, cannot enter into conflict in this way.
Regarding our club, we believe that another solution is a thousand times preferable: instead of encroaching on each other's territories, let us strengthen our cooperation. Let us meet, discuss, reflect, and decide together on the best reforms for the benefit of our two clubs and their future, without this cooperation leading to the disappearance of one of the two partners. We say this to you sincerely: there are surely many cooperation projects that we could explore together: finding mutual subscription systems between our two clubs; forming joint teams in certain championships. Let us talk: we are open to any discussion, to any project.
But to be confident, the exchange must be conducted on equal terms, without you contributing in any way to the liquidation of the tennis club of Saint-Quay-Portrieux. We need to take the time to have these exchanges, and above all, not to conduct them in haste and in secrecy, following a rushed timeline that would be imposed on us from the outside. This is, moreover, the imperative rule rightly established by the FFT's Ethical Charter, in its "Principle 3.4": "Tennis institutions must maintain harmonious relationships with public authorities while preserving their free will and without being dictated to in their behaviors, choices, and decisions."
We have therefore proposed that the offices of our two clubs meet and exchange in a fraternal manner. This proposal was rejected by the president of your club, who told us he did not want such a meeting. Why? We confess our dismay. We do not want to believe that our long history of friendship is ending in what would resemble a hostile takeover. In summary, we propose to work together. But not in that way. In a mutually respectful and trusting manner, under the auspices of our federation. By agreeing on this line of conduct:
"Between neighboring tennis clubs,
Yes to competition!
No to cannibalization!"
Very amicably.
