Municipal: former rugby glory Serge Blanco succeeds in his relaunch by successful Biarritz | EUROtoday

The one whom the media have typically nicknamed the “Pelé of rugby” has achieved a brand new feat. Serge Blanco succeeded in his problem of getting into politics by successful, on Sunday March 22, the municipal elections in Biarritz, his hometown, with 41.92% of the votes within the second spherical in a triangular election.

For his first electoral marketing campaign, the previous full-back of the XV of France and Olympic Biarritz (BO), aged 67, is forward of Maider Arosteguy (32.21%) and a union checklist of the left and a centrist candidate, led by Ana Ezcurra, third with 25.87%, in line with full outcomes.

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The former star participant, who was forward of Mayor LR Maider Arosteguy by solely twelve votes within the first spherical, was rallied between the 2 rounds by a member of the outgoing opposition, Jean-Baptiste Dussaussois-Larralde, who got here fourth (13.11%).

After saying the outcomes to the cheers and applause of Serge Blanco’s supporters, Maïder Arosteguy expressed his “disappointment” and his “feeling of having given everything”, earlier than predicting “an extremely difficult mandate”. Serge Blanco declared that “the Biarrots wanted change”, “that we speak to them from the heart, that we respect them”.

The man of 1 membership, the BO

For his first participation within the municipal election on this posh seaside city of 25,000 inhabitants, anchored to the center-right, the previous rugby worldwide had put collectively a listing open to civil society and bringing collectively the center-left and the appropriate within the first spherical.

Born in 1958 in Caracas, he arrived within the opulent Basque seaside metropolis two years later together with his mom, after the dying of his Venezuelan father.

There he found rugby and a membership, Olympic Biarritz… The solely one among his profession, with which he failed within the last of the French Championship in 1992 towards Toulon (19-14 defeat), for his farewell to the sector.

“I have only ever worn the colors of the BO and that is my pride. I am the man of only one club”, he proclaims in “My favorable rebounds”, his autobiography printed in 2019.

A decade splashed by the expertise of this participant

Unlucky at membership, Serge Blanco wrote his legend in choice, by way of 93 caps, 18 captaincy and 38 tries, a file solely surpassed by Damian Penaud (40) in November 2025.

Number 15 within the again, he electrifies the defenses with a complicated hook or a loopy run, like his strive towards Australia in 1987, which certified France for the ultimate of the very first World Cup. Pursued by 4 Wallabies, he dives into the nook within the eighty fifth minute. Then celebrates, on his knees, ball above his head.

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If the French XV was overwhelmed within the last by New Zealand, it received six Five Nations Tournaments, together with two Grand Slams (in 1981 and 1987), throughout this 1980 decade splashed by Blanco’s expertise.

He left the Blues on the night of an infuriating defeat, punctuated by blows, within the quarter-final of the 1991 World Cup towards England, who had “targeted” him to derail the French XV.

Entrepreneur and chief of French rugby

He first retrained in enterprise. After beginning as a turner, fitter and fitter at Dassault, in parallel together with his rugby-loving profession, then becoming a member of the general public relations division of the Pernod group, he took cost of a thalassotherapy heart in his title in Hendaye, close to Biarritz, even earlier than hanging up his crampons.

He additionally created a profitable clothes model in 1993 and launched into the lodge enterprise, with a luxurious institution not removed from Biarritz airport. But the journey ends badly. In January 2020, after a number of years of deficit, the Serge Blanco holding firm, bringing collectively the lodge and thalassotherapy industries, was positioned in obligatory liquidation.

Rugby is rarely distant. First boss of the model new National Rugby League from 1998 to 2008, he was additionally president of “his” Olympic Biarritz from 1995 to 1998, then from 2008 to 2015. Vice-president of Pierre Camou on the Federation (FFR) from 2012 to 2016, he then opposed his successors Bernard Laporte, then Florian Grill.

Regularly cited within the run-up to native elections, he has, nevertheless, remained withdrawn from the political subject for a very long time. Until his determination to launch firstly of December to “give Biarritz back the momentum it deserves”. Three months later, the check was reworked.

With AFP