Amélie Oudéa-Castéra has a job to do. The Minister of Sports must deal with the setbacks of Le Graët, and with him the FFF. But not only: in recent months, several bodies of French sport have been going through more or less strong areas of turbulence. All the more worrying as the dysfunctions concern structures linked to the two major sporting events soon to be organized in France: the 2023 Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Olympics.
The FFR plays tangled
The French Rugby Federation (FFR) is currently offering tough competition to the football federation when it comes to extra-sports. In a missive addressed to the minister “AOC” on Christmas Eve, the boss of the FFR, Bernard Laporte, undertook to give in “all of its prerogatives” to a delegate president – Patrick Buisson, vice-president in charge of amateur rugby – whom he himself proposed on January 6 to the federal office, before submitting it to the vote of the clubs “no later than the third week of January”.
This change of governance should temporarily seal the soap opera of the Laporte-Altrad affair. The first cited was sentenced on December 13 to a two-year suspended prison sentence at first instance for having tied a “corruption pact” with the businessman and president of the Montpellier club, Mohed Altrad. His sentence accompanied by a ban on practicing not being immediately enforceable, it took the joint pressure of AOC, the National Rugby League (LNR) and the ethics committee of the FFR for him to withdraw until his appeal trial, which should only take place after the 2023 World Cup.
The French Olympic Committee takes up the fight
Another crisis, perhaps the most symbolic: the one that the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) is going through, a body supposed to ensure the smooth running of the French sports movement, which is moreover a year and a half from Paris 2024. However, since several months, nothing is going well on board the ship. Its pilot, Brigitte Henriques, is weakened as much as exhausted after a stormy episode which occurred at the start of the school year in September. After months of conflicting relations, the president elected in June 2021 decided to separate from her right arm, Didier Séminet, before filing a complaint against him for “psychological violence”. Then to take a break for two months, hastily replaced by a quartet of leaders. Not without angering the leaders of the other federates: an anti-Henriques front crystallized around his predecessor, Denis Masseglia. Never since its creation had the institution experienced such a situation.
The former vice president of the FFF returned to business in early December. Meanwhile, Didier Séminet replied by filing a complaint in turn against Henriques on November 7 for “slanderous denunciation” et “breach of trust”claiming to have lived “a veritable media lynching”. At least Brigitte Henriques had time to reimburse all the sums wrongly paid by the CNOSF – 4,184 euros –, qualified as“errors” in an internal audit. They oscillate between notes of taxis (Mediapart revealed the case of several journeys made by Henriques’ daughter), double invoicing and expenses for which the supporting documents were missing.
The federation of ice sports skates
Less exposed to the media, the French Federation of Ice Sports (FFSG) also carries its share of pans. Its new president, Gwenaëlle Noury, recently distinguished herself with an intrigue with springs close to that of Henriques: the dismissal of its secretary general, Patrice Martin. The latter described the higher echelons of the federation with the terms “copinage”, “between oneself”, “methods from another time” et “personal interest”. For him, the FFSG lives in “autarky”, works “without worrying about the rules for the proper functioning of an association”. He evokes “hidden decisions” Talk about “emails and info that disappear”. Above all, it refers to the fact that “many people” are in contact with Didier Gailhaguet, ex-sovereign of the discipline for two decades, who would still pull the strings of the federation.
His stranglehold ended in February 2020, with his resignation following a long battle with then-sports minister Roxana Maracineanu, fueled by revelations from skater Sarah Abitbol. In a book, the latter revealed the rapes perpetrated by her trainer Gilles Beyer against her when she was between 15 and 17 years old, Gailhaguet being accused of having protected him. Recently at the microphone of Europe 1, Sarah Abitbol said to herself “very worried” by this new federal office. “There has been lobbying and unfortunately, [Gailhaguet] came back through the window. An inspection decided at the beginning of October by the Minister of Sports should make it possible to clarify everything, both governance and financial and accounting aspects.