This is the beautiful story in the France-Ireland match (30-24) of the Six Nations Tournament, Saturday evening at the Stade de France.
Even if it all started with a somewhat incomprehensible zeal on the part of the security service of the Saint-Denis enclosure.
A sign on which was written "Dupont President" was confiscated by Stadium agents, for, it seems, its "political message"...
The authors of this improbable package: Augustin and Anatole, two children aged 11 and 12, and their father, Paul.
He denounced the facts on the social network Twitter, which did not fail to react to Internet users, and in particular the French Rugby Federation.
This one got away with it wonderfully by doing better than returning the sign: the FFR apologized and transmitted "the object of the offense" to Antoine Dupont himself, who posed with it in the locker room!
All cleverly published on social networks.
“We haven't picked up the sign yet, but when we saw Dupont posed with it in the locker room, we were on the RER back from the Stadium, the children were super happy!
It's smart of the Federation,” says Paul.
The father explains that the now famous panel was painted the morning of the match by his children.
This match was Anatole's birthday present, who turned 12 last week.
The family arrived early at the Stade de France, and the children came closer to the lawn to proudly wave their sign of encouragement to the captain of the Blues.
🙏 We are sorry for this misunderstanding, but @Dupont9A received the message 😉!
Thank you for your support !
❤️ #NeFaisonsXV https://t.co/v0aQ18dGL4 pic.twitter.com/i3tyUuWwqn
– France Rugby (@FranceRugby) February 12, 2022
“They were filmed by the stadium cameras, maybe that's how the agents noticed it.
We were well before kick-off, four agents arrived at my children, I was sitting a little higher in our place.
They addressed them directly, without violence, and asked them for the sign, saying that it was prohibited, continues Paul.
I followed them, they told me that it could be interpreted as a political message… I know it's the elections soon but still, it's just an encouragement, a wink because we love Anthony Dupont!
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Read alsoAntoine Dupont, the France that wins
The agents inform the father that the sign can be picked up at the locker after the game.
“The children were a bit stunned and disappointed, they didn't understand.
Then the match started and they moved on.”
Paul, who is a journalist in a media in Switzerland, still posted the mishap on Twitter.
The FFR reacted fairly quickly, saying that it was taking the matter in hand.
But when the family went to get their sign from the locker, it was gone.
It was therefore on their smartphone that they discovered that it was in the hands of the best player in the world!
If all's well that ends well, Paul is still amazed at how it turned out.
“Even if all of this probably starts from a bad decision at a bad time, it still shows that there is a hypertensive climate today, he believes.
It wouldn't have happened a few years ago."
It is true that the “Zidane President” chanted on the Champs-Élysées have never been considered as real militant messages wishing to see the 1998 World Champion access the Élysée…