Florian Grill
Florian Grill, born on October 14, 1965, in Paris,[1] is a French business executive and rugby union official.
From 2017 to 2023, he served as president of the regional rugby league of Île-de-France. On June 14, 2023, he was elected president of the French Rugby Federation.
Biography
Born in Paris, he played rugby for 12 years in his youth with the Paris Université Club as a lock until the senior category. [2]He was notably runner-up in the French championship and captain of the Reichel junior team. He stopped playing at senior level to focus on his studies.[3]
A graduate of HEC Paris business school in 1988, he was active in student life as president of the student union and joined the school's rugby team as a flanker.
After graduating, he spent some time in the United States, where he completed his military service through the VSNE (Volunteer in National Service Company) program. While there, he played rugby with the Manhattan Rugby Club.
In 1994, he co-founded the marketing and media consulting agency CoSpirit Groupe with his friend Olivier Delavoye. He has served as its chairman and CEO since its creation.
He is also co-owner of the Château de l'Engarran, a renowned wine estate located in Lavérune, near Montpellier. His sister, Diane Losfelt, runs the estate and was named Winemaker of the Year by the Guide Hachette des Vins in 2021.[4]
When his son started playing rugby, he enrolled him in the Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt (ACBB) instead of the Paris Université Club, considering taking up rowing there. Accompanying his son, he became a coach and then an official at the ACBB rugby school. President of the Boulogne-Billancourt Athletic Club since 2009, he was at the forefront of the battle to save the club after the Paris city council decided to allocate the Saut-du-Loup stadium to Stade Français.[5] Following ACBB omnisports' decision on May 1, 2012, to impose a two-division relegation, he and the entire board of the rugby association resigned. Around this time, he befriended Pierre Camou, then president of the French Rugby Federation, and joined the Île-de-France rugby committee.[6]
In November 2016, he joined Pierre Camou's list for the French Rugby Federation board elections. In the December 3, 2016 elections, Bernard Laporte's list won with 52.6% of the votes (29 seats), while Pierre Camou's list received 35.28% (six seats) and Alain Doucet's list 12.16% (two seats). Florian Grill joined the board but Bernard Laporte was elected president of the French Rugby Federation.[7]
During the Île-de-France rugby committee's executive meeting on June 27, 2017, he was elected president. In December 2017, he ran for president of the new regional rugby league of Île-de-France, replacing the committee following territorial reorganization. After the first decentralized electronic vote in French rugby history, his list won 66.2% of the votes (34 seats) against Jean-Loup Dujardin's list (6 seats), who was backed by Bernard Laporte. Florian Grill thus became the first president of the Île-de-France Regional Rugby League.
In 2019, he took part in a working group to prepare for the October 2020 renewal of the French Rugby Federation board. The group included amateur leaders and former internationals such as Serge Blanco, Jean-Claude Skrela, Fabien Pelous, and Jean-Marc Lhermet. On June 25, 2019, the group announced that Florian Grill would lead the opposition list for the upcoming elections.
In the October 3, 2020 vote, his list received 48.53% of the votes compared to Bernard Laporte's 51.47%. Grill retained his seat on the board, but Laporte was re-elected president. Grill then announced his candidacy for re-election as president of the Île-de-France league during the November 7, 2020 general assembly. His list won with 90.76% of the votes, securing 39 out of 40 board seats.[8]
On January 27, 2023, he and all elected members of his list resigned from the federation board following Bernard Laporte's resignation and the Sports Minister's call for a full board resignation to trigger new general elections. However, Grill remained involved in the board in a non-voting capacity as a regional league president. During partial elections in May 2023 to renew 12 board members, he and 11 other members of the Oval Ensemble list returned to the board.[9]
On June 14, 2023, he was elected president of the French Rugby Federation with 58% of the votes. He then formed a federal executive with seven members from his list and five from the existing majority, reflecting the votes of clubs within the federation.[10]
References
- ↑ https://www.midilibre.fr/2023/07/29/florian-grill-de-paris-et-dici-lancrage-montpellierain-et-nimois-du-nouveau-president-de-la-ffr-11367996.php
- ↑ https://actu.fr/sports/rugby/pro/rugby-8-choses-a-savoir-sur-florian-grill-nouveau-president-de-la-federation-francaise-de-rugby_59728454.html
- ↑ http://www.leparisien.fr/sports/rugby/rugby-laporte-demontre-son-incapacite-de-gestion-denonce-florian-grill-30-11-2018-7958328.php
- ↑ https://www.toutlevin.com/article/qui-est-diane-losfelt-la-vigneronne-de-l-annee-du-chateau-de-lengarran
- ↑ http://www.leparisien.fr/hauts-de-seine-92/boulogne-billancourt-92100/les-rugbymen-de-l-acbb-craignent-de-perdre-leur-stade-08-09-2009-630741.php
- ↑ http://www.leparisien.fr/hauts-de-seine-92/marnes-la-coquette-92430/sombre-avenir-pour-l-acbb-rugby-06-06-2012-2035266.php
- ↑ https://ligueidf.ffr.fr/actualites/ligue/editorial-de-florian-grill-president-de-lile-de-france-rugby
- ↑ https://cospirit.com/florian-grill-elu-president-de-la-federation-francaise-de-rugby/
- ↑ https://hecstories.fr/fr/videos/lentretien-hec-florian-grill-president-de-la-federation-francaise-de-rugby/
- ↑ https://www.lequipe.fr/Rugby/Actualites/Florian-grill-nouveau-president-de-la-federation-francaise-de-rugby/1402695