Jean-Michel Bonnet, 62, is a fulfilled president at his club in Clisson, in the Pays de la Loire league. With its 463 registered members, the SAC is the second-biggest club in terms of playing numbers, just behind Angers.

“Every category is represented,” the president explains, “baby rugby, the whole rugby school, the women, the youth section, the seniors, the recreational side…” And if you have fun working out the ratio of registered members to inhabitants, Clisson stands out as a serious leader in its category. “It’s the club of the vineyards,” Jean-Michel Bonnet explains. “The town itself may have 7,800 inhabitants but the wider community represents around 56,000 people in total.”

114 years of history and an institution in the vineyards

A historic club, 114 years old, a historic name in rugby in the vineyards. There is always an uncle, a parent, a brother or a cousin who has played rugby at Clisson; it is a kind of institution.

“We naturally draw in the youngsters, there’s a good momentum,” explains the president, a native of Normandy. “The rugby school is strong, and the youth section were regional champions again last year.”

A president who came from nowhere, or nearly

President Bonnet has a route almost as improbable as a Louis Bielle-Biarrey run: he played rugby until the age of 32 and had to give up because of his work. “I didn’t play with Clisson,” the president explains. “I started in quatrième série at Bayeux. Then came student rugby in Lorraine, at Hagondange near Metz, then at Cherbourg, and finally at Illkirch-Graffenstaden.

President Bonnet then got a finger caught in the machinery of rugby in the west: it was in 2011 that he joined Clisson’s partners’ club, as the head of a plastics company, before becoming president of that partners’ club. Then came a little more intimacy with the club: the vice-presidency after Covid, for two seasons, and then the presidency.

A structured club, volunteers worth their weight in gold

Today, the SAC can count on two approved grass training pitches, one of them cleared for Fédérale, as well as a 300 m² artificial pitch for the youngsters, the baby rugby and static skills work. The club employs two members of staff, a development officer in charge of the three-star accredited rugby school and the youth section, and a part-time employee in charge of communications. None of it would be possible, of course, without the imposing team of volunteers: thank you and well done to the Philippes, Jean-Pauls, Célines, Stéphanies, Sam, Fifi, Ben, Zoom, Estelle in the plural (there are two of them), Ludo, Stéphane, Bruno, Tom, Jésus, PM, Fred, Jean…

Fédérale 3, a year ahead of the plan

The truth is that Clisson did not have the “first team” its potential deserved. That has now been put right, and here are president Bonnet’s explanations: “We didn’t have a first team at the level of the rest of the club, we’d picked up bad habits, we were more the sort of team other sides came to collect five points from, which was a bit disrespectful.”

A sporting project was put together, but the timetable was not respected…: “We drew up a club project in 2022 after Covid, to go up to Fédérale 3 in 2027. We had to develop our first teams properly. Today, 80% are lads who came through our own rugby school.” The SAC climbed into Fédérale 3 a year early. Hats off.

Hellfest and rugby: the most rock ‘n’ roll partnership in the vineyards

The vineyards hide some gems between Cholet and Nantes. And then there is Hellfest, in Clisson. President Bonnet enjoys the thought: “Hellfest (a huge world-famous heavy metal festival, editor’s note) is a club partner. Every year we provide the crew that puts up the crash barriers with a team of SAC Clisson volunteers. They do the assembly and the dismantling. They work very well, with a smile, and when they’re not working they play rugby while they wait!”