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Death of Christophe Dominici: his last injury, the abortive recovery of the Béziers club

2020-11-28T17:13:37.260Z


The former international of the XV of France, who died Tuesday falling from a roof in the Parc de Saint-Cloud, had been marked by failure this summer


Christophe Dominici was not doing well.

Everyone who has passed or approached him in recent days is saying much the same thing.

The former Blues winger (67 caps), tragically died Tuesday at 48, looked gloomy.

He seemed withdrawn, little inclined to discussions or gossip, far from his habits.

As if he had taken refuge in his inner world where he was fighting perpetually with his childhood wound.

Besides, he hardly answered the phone anymore.

The investigation will say whether he threw himself voluntarily from the roof of a disused building of the Sully barracks in the Parc de Saint-Cloud (Hauts-de-Seine) or if it was an accident, but his ill-being had not been in doubt for a few weeks.

A wounded man who saw the signs of depression reappear, the one that picked him up as soon as he let down his guard, and sent him back to the appalling memories of the drama of his adolescence, the sudden disappearance of his big sister Pascale in a car accident. road, when he was 14 years old.

His last scar, still raw, hollowed out on the side of Béziers, in Hérault, during the incredible business of taking over the local rugby club, resident of Pro D 2, in which he left a lot of feathers.

"He was deeply marked by the various comments and judgments pronounced against him on this subject, reacted in our columns Thomas Lombard, the general manager of the Stade Français, his friend.

He was trying to rebuild himself.

Christophe was a winner, someone who deserved much more respect than he was given during that period.

Especially since he did things with heart and conviction, as always.

"

"The guy seduced me in an hour"

So what happened in Béziers?

A soap opera where debts, local interests, power struggles and badly put together issues ended in loud voices.

Let's sum up.

We are in February.

The club is doing badly financially and hopes for a buyer.

At the same time, Yannick Pons, Christophe Dominici's partner, meets Franco-Emirati Samir Ben Romdhane, at the head of a raw materials company, Sotaco.

It is first a question of buying vineyards in the Hérault, then the subject of rugby is raised and the investor is enthusiastic.

"The guy seduced me in an hour," Dominici told us.

A meeting is organized with the mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard.

The latter is won over by the project.

He becomes its first supporter.

Christophe Dominici spends his days and nights on the phone, attracts Rodrigo Roncero, Juan-Martin Hernandez and Frédéric Michalak to manage the team, and plans to recruit stars from the Southern Hemisphere, including the All Black Ma'a Nonu.

Internally, we grind our teeth.

A competing project is born with in particular the former president of the Toulouse stadium René Bouscatel.

The twists and turns multiply until the DNACG, the financial policeman of tricolor rugby, considers the guarantees provided by the Emirati group unconvincing.

Time stretches out.

On June 23, Dominici held a press conference in front of the Raoul-Barrière stadium: “I put all my heart and all my soul into this project.

We have been faced with injustice, cheap blows, backbiting.

He wants to continue the fight.

A new deadline is imposed by the DNACG.

He cuts ties with most of his relatives

Samir Ben Romdhane withdraws.

Christophe Dominici is stunned.

At the beginning of July, he lost his nerves by stealing a hat from a shop in Sanary-sur-Mer, in the Var, and pushing a saleswoman.

He cuts ties with most of his relatives.

Overnight, Rodrigo Roncero or Frédéric Michalak have no more news from him when he called them several times a day.

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And Robert Ménard, he changes his tone and charges the former player: "By making believe things of which he did not have the beginning of a proof, Mr. Dominici did a terrible harm to this club and to this city ... He is no longer welcome in this town hall […] He was a huge rugby player but he should have stuck to that reputation ”.

The mayor of Béziers returned to his comments after the death of the former Stade Français winger.

“He was an endearing boy,” he said.

Someone complicated, with unease.

He represented people who lied to us and who may have lied to him.

We will forget that and remember that he was a boy who could seduce or exasperate, but who left no one indifferent.

"

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2020-11-28

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