Raisuqe returns his controversial celebration: "I regret so much"

His gesture went around the oval planet.

He made a lot of laughs but Josaia Raisuqe risks big.

Last Friday, the Fijian winger of Nevers received a red card for having raised with joy the referee of the match, Mr. Millotte, at the final whistle after the victory of his team on the lawn of Béziers (25- 30).

Referee taken for a trophy, for a teammate who jumps in touch or for Mufasa in the cartoon The Lion King: interpretations and parodies were numerous on social networks where the unusual exclusion has been commented on a lot.

But the Fijian broke a golden rule in rugby: ban on touching the man with the whistle. 

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Pro D2: to celebrate the victory, he lifts the referee ... and collects a red card

In an interview with

Midi Olympique

, Josaia Raisuqe went back over her gesture at length.

“I was happy, that's all: in Pro D2, it's hard to win away.

(…) At the time, I didn't calculate anything.

At the end of the match the first person I saw was the referee and I lifted him up, that's all.

It was awkward but I didn't want to hurt him!

I was just happy! ”

He explains that at the end of the match, he could not explain himself to Mr. Millotte: “No, but I would have liked to meet him.

I would have liked to tell him that I was sorry, that there was no aggressiveness in my gesture… I would have liked to tell him that at home, rugby is just a game and that we apprehend it differently, that's all. " 

Josaia Raisuqe confides that he is now “afraid of being heavily sanctioned”: “The disciplinary committee, I just think of that.

I hope they will understand nevertheless that my gesture was not aggressive… I regret so much… I don't know why I did that… What do you mean, today?

I just want to say I'm sorry.

This is not something to show in rugby schools… ”

"The relationship to authority, on a field or elsewhere, must be preserved from excess, whether of joy or anger, in order to preserve for the actors, referees and players confidence, security and fairness"

Franck Maciello, National Director of Arbitration

For this gesture, the player passed by the Stade Français Paris - who had dismissed him for serious misconduct in 2017 after being placed in police custody for "voluntary violence while intoxicated" and "sexual assault" - is summoned on January 20 by the disciplinary committee of the National Rugby League (LNR).

“A few hours later all my friends in Fiji knew about it.

It all passed me completely.

My father called me.

He was furious and I don't like it when he's like that, he says.

After that, I had a really hard time sleeping.

Not only because I felt guilty but also because the phone kept ringing… ”

"As much as this gesture clearly shows no animosity, it cannot be carried out on a particularly professional ground. The relationship to authority, on a field or elsewhere, must be preserved from excesses, whether of joy or of anger, in order to maintain confidence, security and fairness for the actors, referees and players.

This is indeed a symbol, ”reacted the national director of arbitration, Franck Maciello, in the

Midol

.

And to add: "All this could make you smile by relativizing the gesture, because carried by good intentions.

But if we start to accept it for good intentions, what will be our position when it is animated by bad, or anger?

It is, however, the same thing, excess.

And we must avoid it. ”

Raisuqe wishes to leave this episode behind him: "I can't wait for this to be over." 

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