Mainly due to player shortage the La Guerche Hawks will leave the French Elite League. The steering committee of the club made the decision last Wednesday and announced it on its website on Sunday. The Hawks are going to rebuild and focus on the youth. They will have two teams in local leagues at the lower levels in 2010.
The main reasons for the withdrawal were difficulties to maintain a junior team, the failure not to attract enough promising players from the west region and a 20 percent decrease in the funding by the general council in La Guerche, which couldn’t get covered local partners.
Obviously most of the remaining players for last year’s fifth-ranked team in France will leave La Guerche, if they haven’t already found a new club. We reported during the holidays that starting pitcher Anthony Piquet is pursued by Rouen and Savigny. Gaetan Lepoupon already has signed with the Lions.
Additionally Johnny Santos (Rennes Redwings), Francois Gaignard, Frederic Simon (Thiais) and Jean-Pascal Furet (Bréal sous Montfort Black Panthers) have found new teams. Virgile Roux is expected to join a club in Switzerland, possible the Lausanne Indians.
Romain Legras moved to Canada due to professional reasons. Laurent Perriguey is looking to find a new Elite League team. Warren Guistel probably has to sit out the 2010 season due to a shoulder injury.
At the moment it is not clear how the French Federation will deal with this situation and if they will replace La Guerche with a Nationale 1 club or not. A decision should be announced in the next couple of days. The 2010 season was supposed to start on March 21st with the Hawks playing on the road against the Templiers Senart.