The pressure was too much. Bernard Laporte has resigned as president of the French Rugby Federation. He communicated his decision, taken Thursday evening after the meeting of the federal office, his close guard, to the steering committee this Friday morning. Sports Minister Amélie Ouéda-Castéra opened the session at 9 a.m. to decide on the follow-up to be given to the disavowal suffered by Bernard Laporte and his team at the polls.
The result of the referendum unveiled Thursday noon proved unfavorable to the governance in place. The 1,500 clubs eligible to vote answered “no” at 51.06% to the appointment of vice-president Patrick Buisson as deputy president to replace Bernard Laporte, who has been withdrawn since his conviction at first instance for corruption and influence peddling. by the Paris court on December 13 (he immediately appealed). And this, with 90.46% participation. This had prompted the opposition, led by Florian Grill, the president of the Ile-de-France League, to demand the resignation of the steering committee and the holding of general elections within six weeks.
But after the resignation of Bernard Laporte, an interim president should be appointed pending elections next June at the next general assembly. A situation that the Minister of Sports does not want. “I welcome Bernard Laporte’s decision, I think it was necessary, she reacted to her exit from the steering committee, at the headquarters of the FFR in Marcoussis (Essonne). Now it’s about knowing what to do. I felt it was my duty to say how I analyzed things. This is my advisory role. It seems to me that the clearest path is that of a resignation from the steering committee. It is not a personal questioning of its members. But I call for a general election. The steering committee is continuing the internal debate this Friday morning.