Saluting the memory of a "visionary", the family of rugby and French sport gathered Tuesday in Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées), for a last tribute at the funeral of the leader Bernard Lapasset, who died at 75 years old on the night of May 2 to 3.
"We will remember him as a great leader, a visionary and a great gentleman," Bill Beaumont, the boss of World Rugby, the international federation, told the 600 people gathered in the cathedral of Tarbes.
Funeral of Bernard Lapasset, French rugby leader: "he was the 16th man" for former player Jo Maso https://t.co/c7BF90qOPY pic.twitter.com/MkchQUNq4H
— France 3 Occitanie (@F3Occitanie) May 9, 2023
Bernard Lapasset was in turn President of the French Rugby Federation from 1991 to 2008, then of the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby) until 2016, before co-chairing the bid committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The President of the Organizing Committee of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet, was also present and delivered a speech full of emotion in front of the bereaved family of the Haut-Pyrénéen.
"In sport, we are used to celebrating victories and taking defeats, but Bernard was a champion apart, because he almost never lost," he said, recalling the "tandem" he formed with Bernard Lapasset to get the Games organized.
Many personalities of French rugby were also present, from the former captains of the XV of France Fabien Pelous and Thierry Dusautoir, to the coaches Marc Lièvremont (2007-2011) and Bernard Laporte (1999-2007).
"I worked alongside him for eight years, I had a closeness with him that makes me have a lot of memories and that today is a painful day," Bernard Laporte, also a former president of the FFR, told AFP.