Nearly 2,000 amateur clubs vote Monday to Thursday on the candidacy for the head of the federation of Patrick Buisson, proposed by Bernard Laporte, convicted of corruption on December 13.
Will the French Rugby Federation end up sticking its nose out of the fray? From this Monday and until Thursday, the country’s 1,900 amateur clubs are called upon to decide on the candidacy of Patrick Buisson, vice-president in charge of amateur rugby, to take the helm of the Federation during the implementation. withdrawal of President Bernard Laporte, sentenced in mid-December at first instance for corruption.
If the “no” were to win after the vote, Laporte, according to the terms of his withdrawal presented to the ministry, could submit a new person for the post of deputy president until obtaining a positive vote from clubs. A possibility rejected by the opposition, which calls for new elections to the FFR in the event of victory over the rejection of the candidacy of Patrick Buisson, a name proposed by Laporte.
Leader of the opposition, Florian Grill called on Friday in an interview with AFP the clubs to do “the choice of ethics” and vote “no”. “If Patrick Buisson really wants to embody the end of business, also believes Florian Grill, the FFR would already have to be a civil party again in the trial, Bernard Laporte would have to have paid the lawyers’ fees since December 13, the treasurer general would have to tell us the amount of the lawyers’ fees for Bernard Laporte and Serge Simon since 2017. This team has been in place for six consecutive years and we have been in business for six consecutive years.
“Real democratic time”
For the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castera, the referendum “is not an administrative formality” more “a real democratic time, which is engaging”. The minister will attend a meeting of the FFR steering committee to be held on Friday, the day after the end of the vote. “I have no doubt that the steering committee will draw conclusions responsibly when it comes to analyzing this consultation, both the rate of participation, the response given and the way in which it took place”, she warned last week.
This referendum comes in a sinister context for French rugby. Even if, according to Oudéa-Castera, and despite the revelations by the team suspicions of financial irregularities and the opening of an investigation for “moral harassment” against the former boss of the 2023 World Cup organizing committee, Claude Atcher, “the social climate has calmed down” in the organizing team of the World Cup in France. Eight months from the deadline, it is high time.