Less than eight months before the World Cup organized in France, French rugby is shaken by business.
Bernard Laporte, the president of the French Rugby Federation, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence on December 13 for having entered into a
"corruption pact"
with the businessman and president of the Montpellier club Mohed Altrad.
Having appealed the decision, his sentence, together with the ban on exercising his activity as president of the FFR, is not immediately enforceable.
The former coach of the Blues (2000-2007) refuses as such to resign but accepted, under the joint pressure of the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the National Rugby League (LNR) and the Ethics Committee of the FFR, to stand back behind a delegate president (Patrick Buisson, vice-president in charge of amateur rugby) until the appeal trial, which should only take place after the World Cup-2023.
The fact remains that the image of French rugby has been seriously tarnished by all these extra-sporting affairs, while the XV of France - after years of scarcity - finds the outposts on the ground.
Read alsoPatrick Buisson: "I will not be Bernard Laporte's potiche"
A survey carried out in mid-January by Odoxa - among 1,005 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over, including 436 rugby fans - shows that 68% of French people want Bernard Laporte to leave his post.
A case that had a great impact since 53% of French people and 76% of rugby fans have heard of the conviction of the president of the FFR.
According to 74% of them, this whole affair
“harms French rugby in all its dimensions, first and foremost internationally”
.
The action of the Minister of Sports hailed
The French support, at the same time, the interventionism of the Minister of Sports.
68% of people questioned and 69% of rugby fans believe that Amélie Oudéa-Castéra is right, that
“the
Ministry of Sports must be able to intervene in the internal life of the federations.
They are only 30% and 31% to consider that she is wrong, that the federations must be independent and accountable only to their members and to international bodies”
, explains Odoxa.
Read alsoFrench Rugby Federation: “Laporte in withdrawal, that does not mean the end of his policy”
Consequently,
“the French do not see how Bernard Laporte could remain at the head of the Federation.
68% of them, which is exactly the same level as for Noël Le Graët
(president of the French Football Federation targeted by an investigation for moral harassment and sexual harassment, editor's note),
want him to leave his post.
The level rises to 77% among rugby fans
,” explains Émile Leclerc, director of studies for Odoxa.