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"Macaque", monkey cries, indifference: Bastareaud tells about racism in rugby

2020-06-07T14:35:16.533Z


In support of anti-racist demonstrations, the former center of the XV of France evokes for L'Equipe what it saw and heard on the ground. And outside.


“I am not American and what I know of the events on the spot, I learned it on television. On the other hand, I can speak of the daily life of a young black man in France: we can point the finger at the United States, but everything is not so pretty in our beautiful country. ” Shocked and angry, Mathieu Bastareaud confided in a long interview published in L'Equipe this Sunday. If he says that "France is not a racist country, otherwise I would feel unwell from morning to night", the former players of the Stade Français and Toulon has things to say, "episodes of my life. Occasionally, I was able to cross paths with the ignorant. ”

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And the ice cupboard with the dreadlocks to unfold: "When I was in Massy  (in 2006-2007) , the colored players made up 70% of the workforce and, in certain regions, the atmosphere around the field could be deleterious. In crabos  (under 18 years old ), I remember that one of my partners who was playing the wing was called " macaque " during the whole game by the parents behind the handrail. , there had been overflows because of that. "

"We have heard for a long time that rugby is not like that, but it is false"

Mathieu Bastareaud

Bastareaud also remembers a European match in Bucharest with Paris in a rotten atmosphere. “Djibril  (Camara) , this little blood  (smile) , had been caught with an opponent. The public had taken him in flu and had uttered monkey cries to insult him! We looked at each other as if to say: ' Wow! Where are we Are they serious here? We talked about it together the other day. At the moment, you don't know how to react. We hadn't done anything and it may have been a mistake on our part. And then we thought we were in a foreign country ... "

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"We have heard for a long time that rugby is not like that, but it is not true," adds Bastareaud, hurt and saddened by "those who are close and close their eyes or pretend not to see, who do not not react ”. Including among the instances. “I think that from a rugby point of view, we have done a lot of ostriches. We pretended a lot not to see what was going on. It's probably less visible than in football, but there are some: whether it's the episode of Djibril, Nagusa (attacked by a supporter of Pau in 2015), Yves Donguy  ( a Auch player had mimed a monkey after the Toulousain made a forward in 2008 ) . The facts are there. ”

"A guy said to me, 'Do you know Aznavour? I thought you only listened to rap. "There you hallucinate"

Mathieu Bastareaud

"Being a professional rugby player and having a certain reputation save me a lot of things," says Mathieu Bastareaud. I am persuaded of it, in particular because of this famous sentence which I was taken out several times: '' No but you, it's okay, it's good, you got out! '' Also recently, I was asked if I had gone to school. One day, in the evening, I was humming Aznavour and a guy said to me: '' Do you know Aznavour? I thought you were listening only to rap . '' There you hallucinate, you want to say to the type: '' Are you stupid or what? ' 'It is full of small prejudices like this that gnaw. Before, I did not report, but today the situation has changed. ”

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Source: lefigaro

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