In the early 90’s, I was on the Board of New Zealand Rugby and was tasked to take the game into the professional era. First tasks were to agree a media partner (thank you Mr Murdoch and Sky), and to bring a global sponsor to the All Blacks.
I spoke to all the big companies and finally decided that Adidas would make an excellent partner for New Zealand Rugby. I flew to Switzerland to meet with the owner/ CEO Robert Louis Dreyfus. A remarkable man who also owned Olympique Marseille (and strangely enough had been CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi in the early 90’s.) Robert had bought Adidas from an even more remarkable man, Bernard Tapie. A working class Frenchman, who became a government minister, a TV host, an entrepreneur, a working class hero, the owner of Adidas and the owner of Olympique Marseille.
Mr Tapie had an amazing life and career. It has now been captured brilliantly by Netflix in a limited series called Tapie, or in English “Class Act”. I binged on the series on my way from Ibiza to Auckland, and it made me laugh, cry, think, reflect, and laugh some more. Brilliantly produced and directed. Just a great story brilliantly told.
Take a look.
