Toulouse Olympique fell short of an immediate return to Super League when they lost in the Championship play-off final to London Broncos, but new President Olivier Dubois has claimed that was in fact a “blessing in disguise”.
The Olympians debuted in Super League in 2022 but fell back down to Championship immediately, where they eventually placed second in 2023 before falling short against London in the play-off final.
That was the final opportunity for Toulouse to be promoted via the normal method, prior to IMG’s grading that will take effect from 2025, however new president Olivier Dubois believes the extra year in the Championship can give the club time to build.
Speaking to Treize Mondial, he explained: “For me, this defeat in the final is a blessing in disguise. At the start of the 2023 season, we only had 18 professional players in the squad, to which we added five young people from the training center.
“Everyone has been great this season with real uniqueness. We saw that we had a very solid club, with a good rating given by IMG (12.97), but I think it’s good to return to the Championship.
“We have to be honest, the club would not have been ready for the Super League and I’m not talking from a purely sporting point of view but for everything that goes with it, particularly on the administrative aspect.
“This new year in the Championship will solidify us even more and if next year we have to go, we will be ready and it will be for good.”
The club ranked well under the preliminary IMG gradings, sitting 10th among the professional clubs which saw them rank highest of any Championship club and would see them feature in Super League if they can maintain that rating.
Despite that though Dubois has slammed the club’s facilities, claiming they are in fact of an amateur level and not up to scratch, something that the increased funds from Super League could remedy with a view to change stadium.
He told Treize: “We are a professional club with amateur infrastructures. A return to the Super League will also allow us to have greater subsidies, TV rights too and when you are broadcast, there are private partnerships which increase.
“In four, five years, I would like us to have our own stadium. Ernest-Wallon is magnificent and a stadium recognized by everyone. But we are very small, we have between 3,500 and 5,000 spectators and filling 22,000 seats is utopian.
“So 4,000 people in a stadium this big is empty, it doesn’t feel like a cauldron. I find that for the city of Toulouse, having an enclosure for between 6,000 and 8,000 people would make sense.”
What Dubois describes is similar to the issue that Huddersfield face, playing in such a large stadium but with an attendance far below 10,000 makes it hard to create an atmosphere on matchday.
Dubois was positive on the whole though and outlined what needs to improve should the Olympians earn promotion under IMG ahead of the 2025 season.
“The budget will increase gradually in any case but my first objective is to clean up the financial situation of the club to leave with this budget already.
“It must already be said that the IMG grade is a very good mark, it means that the club has still worked well over the last three years despite mistakes. Not everything has to be thrown away. The three criteria to improve are finance, which is essential, infrastructure, also essential, and followers. “
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