2023-05-10 05:01:58
Welcoming the memory of a “visionary”, the family of rugby and French sport met on Tuesday in Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées), for a final tribute at the funeral of leader Bernard Lapasset, who died at 75 in the night of May 2-3.
“We will remember him as a great leader, a visionary and a great gentleman,” said Bill Beaumont, the boss of World Rugby, the international federation, in front of the 600 people gathered in the cathedral of Tarbes.
Bernard Lapasset was in turn president of the French Rugby Federation from 1991 to 2008, then of the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby) until 2016, before co-chairing the bid committee for the Games Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The president of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee Tony Estanguet was also present and delivered an emotional speech to the bereaved family of Haut-Pyrénéen.
“In sport, we are used to celebrating victories and taking defeats, but Bernard was a champion apart, because he almost never lost”, he said, in memory of the “tandem”. which he formed with Bernard Lapasset to obtain the organization of the Games.
Many French rugby personalities were also present, from former captains of the XV of France Fabien Pelous and Thierry Dusautoir, to coaches Marc Lievremont (2007-2011) and Bernard Laporte (1999-2007).
“I worked alongside him for eight years, I had a closeness with him which means that I have many memories and that today is a painful day”, declared to AFP Bernard Laporte, also former president of the FFR.
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