French NT

    It's a bit difficult to present the current situation of french NT in only one post.


    If you followed the WCH, you know that Earvin Ngapeth was expelled from the team.
    What you might not know is that there has been a lot of trouble following this.


    Because Ngapeth's club (coached by his own father) quickly published a communicate endorsing him, the frenc NT staff tried to counter-attack with a petition from the player endorsing NT coach Philippe Blain.Problem is that some players refused to sign it, which led to part of the team endorsing Blain (not necessarily very willingly) when other sustained Ngapeth (or simply remained neutral).
    Main support for Blain being Kieffer (NT captain) and Antiga.


    A few weeks after the WCH, Bazin (setter of the silver medalist team at 2009 ECH, banned from team during 2010 WL) said he "could not stand Blain anymore".
    Two weeks ago (and right after Pujol'disease possibly having to stop his career was known), Kieffer ( recovering from a 6 weeks injury) announced he was going to retire from NT. Even if London OG are closing and he was the NT captain, he said he took the decision before summer, but did not told it to Blain who learnt it from l'Equipe's journalist !
    Last week, the french federation decided to give a suspension to Ngapeth for the 2011 WL. Ngapeth said he wasn't taking it as a sanction since he wasn't willing to play with Blain as a coach and some of his former teammate (who endorsed Blain against him) still in the team.
    But the main blow came right after from Hubert Henno.
    He also announced he was retiring from NT, and published 1 message on his website.
    In this message he accused Blain to successively ban (or refuse to call in NT) players like Chambertin, Herpe, Capet, Dekergret, Daquin,Granvorka, Barca Cysique, Shalk, Moreau et Bazin, because they had a strong personnality. This was quite well known for Herpe, Moreau and Bazin, but news concerning other players (many of them retiring from NT when they were quite old).
    He also said he had regrets that french NT had never been led by an other coach for the 10 years he had been in NT.
    In a previous messagehe said that there had been "malversations" in the team at the time of the "Blain endorsing petition", that all of this was only to cover the bad results* (especially the terrible game against USA) and that Blain was dividing the players just to protect himself.


    The fact is that Blain is guilty for calling only one opposite (Rouzier) because he did not want to call Moreau as a backup. So when Rouzier got injured, the replacement he had planned was Vadeleux who had no other experience that semi-friendly WL games and a couple of championship games as an opposite !


    Last thing.
    Blain was supposed to comment the game Tours vs Montpellier for the TV. But since Blain is almost persona non grata in Tours he was somehow replaced by former MB Vincent Monméat. Problem is: a WL game against Cuba will be played in Tours next summer. I wonder how he is going to avoid being in the hall... :sos:


    Currently, Blain has to build a team whithout Ngapeth (arguably best french OH), Kieffer (NT captain, and one of Blain's main support), Pujol and Bazin (arguably best french setters) , Moreau (second best french opposite), Henno (best french player of the last 10 years) .
    Of course there are plenty of rumors about others players not willing to play with Blain (or Blain not willing to call them), so it's possible that a few other names might be add to the list.

    Ngabeth is out of the team :what: WTF! he is nowadays the best OH i am watching :cheesy: and such a talented player doesnot play for NT :down:


    French federations knows well how to waste talent... and i am pretty sure that there are lots of countries which would be crazy to neutralize such a young and great player for their NT. :whistle:


    Altough all this kind of reaction and retirement, will not Blain be fired?

    Thanks for the info, I was largely unaware of this situation. Seems like there will be an end to Blain's career some time soon, with the NT that is. Time for someone else to give it a try. Perhaps Blangé? :P

    Quote from HeeelMooi

    Thanks for the info, I was largely unaware of this situation. Seems like there will be an end to Blain's career some time soon, with the NT that is.

    The problem is that the french federation has huge financial problem (1M€ deficit) and can't afford to fire him unless he has bad results.
    Blain is also quite powerful in french VB, and will surely not give up easily.


    I doubt the federation will be able to get rid of him before 2012 OG, and maybe only should the french NT fail to qualify. (which nobody wants !)

    Quote from Armel

    The problem is that the french federation has huge financial problem (1M€ deficit) and can't afford to fire him unless he has bad results.
    Blain is also quite powerful in french VB, and will surely not give up easily.


    I doubt the federation will be able to get rid of him before 2012 OG, and maybe only should the french NT fail to qualify. (which nobody wants !)


    I see your dilemma, so probably will have to have patience on this one. Who knows, perhaps French NT will still qualify with the team Blain will put together. It might not be the best players, but you can't say he's a bad coach for obvious reasons (he got some nice results in the past).

    I have to say the firing of Ngapeth from the NT is one of the worst decisions ever - especially because of the apparent 'situation'. As i understand it Ngapeth was annoyed because he didn't play a lot? Well thats normal of a young good player isnt it? It says a lot about the coach that he couldnt have a sit down and chat with his young promising player. It also shows he hasnt been able to get enough respect form the players. This is all very sad.


    Hopefully something can be done with all the players retiring as well! French team hasnt had good results lately.

    Quote from Kaziyski

    I heard some rumors about racism among players during WL and all got out on WC ?(

    I'm 99% sure this is wrong.
    There's a lot of players coming from everywhere in french club, including french citizen (so french NT members).
    You can't be racist and play sport in France, because you will always cross people from other cultures who will open your mind sooner or later. In France, racist people are almost exclusively old people, and people living in country not knowing foreigners.


    The problem between Ngapeth and Blain is different.


    Ngapeth has been raised (remember that his father is his current coach) with the idea that if you train hard and play well at training, you earn your place on court. Yet Antiga did not train for most of the summer, came back in the team and despite a shoulder injury, and poor games (especially in spiking) he was always a starter.
    That Ngapeht had difficulties to accept. But when came the WCH, and he saved the day of NT a couple times for NT, and still started games on the bench, he realized that Blain did not follow the same rule, that he would be a backup nevermind what kind of effort he could put on training session and that made him realy angry.

    Ngapeth has been raised (remember that his father is his current coach) with the idea that if you train hard and play well at training, you earn your place on court. Yet Antiga did not train for most of the summer, came back in the team and despite a shoulder injury, and poor games (especially in spiking) he was always a starter.
    That Ngapeht had difficulties to accept. But when came the WCH, and he saved the day of NT a couple times for NT, and still started games on the bench, he realized that Blain did not follow the same rule, that he would be a backup nevermind what kind of effort he could put on training session and that made him realy angry.





    That's the opposite of what Prandi did back in 2009. Plamen Konstantinov, one of our best players and best reveier, was out of shape and he expected to be called, but Prandi refused.

    Armel, do u think G. Quesque will have a chance this season in NT?? Why did he never get a chance? He is young, but Marechal is young too and ge a lot of chances to be in NT. He was MVP in 2007 but i never saw him in NT. Maybe he just do not improved as expected.


    He is playing in Montpellier this season and he is playing well. He and Ngapeth would be a good choise in NT.

    Quote from B. Moreira

    Armel, do u think G. Quesque will have a chance this season in NT?? Why did he never get a chance? He is young, but Marechal is young too and ge a lot of chances to be in NT. He was MVP in 2007 but i never saw him in NT. Maybe he just do not improved as expected.


    He is playing in Montpellier this season and he is playing well. He and Ngapeth would be a good choise in NT.

    He played in A2. (He was great for Mediterranean games but I can't remember if this was last summer or the year before).
    The problem is that while he was in Tours, he had few playtime because of a lot of other OH (Gaumont-Casias, Schalk and Earvin Ngapeth last season). And when he got a chance in Tours, he never played better than the other. (not a problem for a young player, but when compared to Ngapeth he was looking really bad.)
    In Montpellier he's improving compared to Tours, but I think he's not ready for NT yet (meaning not a 14 player list for a championship, It could be good to see him in WL though)

    Armel, thanks for revealing the whole situation. It's sad for French volleyball.
    Little bit dissapointing to hear Blain is such a controversial person, I always had admiration for him as a player.


    Forgive me for being a little opportunistic, but, as a Belgian, I think this opens some possibilities for our NT in the next EC.
    We're in a poule together with France, Finland and Italy. Unnecessary to say this is a very tough draw for us.

    Quote from Armel

    He played in A2. (He was great for Mediterranean games but I can't remember if this was last summer or the year before).
    The problem is that while he was in Tours, he had few playtime because of a lot of other OH (Gaumont-Casias, Schalk and Earvin Ngapeth last season). And when he got a chance in Tours, he never played better than the other. (not a problem for a young player, but when compared to Ngapeth he was looking really bad.)
    In Montpellier he's improving compared to Tours, but I think he's not ready for NT yet (meaning not a 14 player list for a championship, It could be good to see him in WL though)

    Thanks Armel for the info.

    Stéphane Antiga retiring from NT.


    He played 309 games for France since 1998.
    With the french NT, he won silver medal at 2003 and 2009 EC, and bronze at 2002 WC. He also was part of the team that play the final of 2006 WL.
    He was named best receiver of 2009 EC and part of the super 7 of 2002 WC.

    That's too bad. I remember when he played against Holland in the World League years ago and no one knew who he was and then all of a sudden he turned into one of the better players in europe. I still have the 2003 EC final on tape somewhere. It's a terrific match where Franz Granvorka plays a superb match. Too bad to see him go, you don't have many players like him anymore (great defender and very clever in attack.. kind of like Vujovic). I guess the French team will need Ngapeth even more now.

    Quote from HeeelMooi

    I guess the French team will need Ngapeth even more now.

    We're going to need Ngapeth for sure, but I think Antiga is not the best choice for french NT since a few time. He sure is still a great defender, but his attack lacks power desperately, and I think having Samica, Ngapeth and Maréchal switching on OH position is a more balanced choice between attack and defense.

    Quote from Kk15

    N'gapeth is on the list for the ECh!

    Yeah apparently he made an agreement with Blain.