The French Football Federation (FFF) announced Thursday the launch of an internal investigation after the accusations of "moral and sexual harassment" issued by a former referee currently federal coordinator of amateur refereeing. In the magazine So Foot, the former referee Nicolas Pottier, president of the district of Mayenne and in charge for the FFF of amateur refereeing, charges Thursday the system of refereeing in French football, between cronyism, "positive discrimination" and taboos on homosexuality.
He announced in the magazine that he had filed a complaint on February 14 for "sexual and moral harassment in the private and professional context", and also for "rape against X" for facts dating back to May 2009 after a match he refereed. "The FFF immediately initiates as an employer an internal investigation entrusted to a specialized external firm, Alcens," it announced in a statement, adding that it would be a civil party in the judicial proceedings following the complaint of rape.
In So Foot, Nicolas Pottier claims to have paid professionally for assuming his homosexuality
The Federation also announced the forthcoming appointment of "a qualified and independent person to conduct an analysis mission (...) of the federal arbitration policy, with a view to enhancing its effectiveness, where appropriate".
In So Foot, Nicolas Pottier (43) claims to have paid professionally for assuming his homosexuality, which according to him "represented a problem in the environment". He says he is "the victim of a machination" that slowed down his career, while he had officiated from the age of 29 in the first division, and pinpoints an "opaque, perverse and outdated system".
In recent months, the Federation has been the subject of an audit report commissioned by the Ministry of Sports, which considered that the federal policy to combat gender-based and sexual violence "lacked effectiveness and efficiency". Caught up in controversies and accusations of moral and sexual harassment, the former president of the body Noël Le Graët resigned at the end of February, replaced by interim by his vice-president Philippe Diallo.
