Coach Galonnier steps down

Christian Galonnier, Frenchman in charge of the Czech National team, stepped down as a head coach ahead of the game against Russia played on November 19.

He wasn't part of the travelling squad and rumours started to spread among players and officials about his resignation.

CSRU President Eduard Krutzner played down reasons for his resignation and provided a letter from the Tarbes-based coach, confirming it and stating main reasons were language issues.

In an interview for Czech rugby news server rugby.cz, the Frenchamn revealed his motives in full.

According to this source, the main reason of his decission, apart from the language issues, was a misunderstanding with Jiri Livers, the Czech director of rugby, and Ladislav Vondrasek, the Czech captain.

Galonnier is the sixth coach to step down in recent years, following Václav Čermák (assistent, Summer 2003), Jiří Šťastný (head coach, Autumn 2003), Petr Michovský (assistant, Winter 2004), Michel Bernardin (head coach, Summer 2004), Jan Macháček (assistant, Summer 2005).

The Czech Republic national team plays in the European Championship, Division A, alongside Romania, Russia, Portugal, Georgia, Ukraine. Most of the Czech internationals play abroad, in France, England, Wales and Japan.

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More information

Links:

• Rugby.cz Galonnier interview (in Czech) and photos http://www.rugby.cz/news/index.php?article_id=1196189&article_group_id=5830
• Galonnier's Resignation letter (in Czech) http://rugbyunion.cz/clanky/clanek.php?id=cl43843fe09aa30

Marek Švíř

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