Melvyn Jaminet was suspended from the national team on July 7 for racist remarks, as the Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation into the case. Two other players, Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, were charged with aggravated rape on July 12 in Argentina. The French rugby team's 2024 summer tour will not go down in history for its sporting record but instead for its judicial one. These cases, which arose at the heart of its flagship team, are above all a brutal reminder of two of the evils that haunt French rugby: violence – physical, sexual and domestic – and racism.
These issues run counter to the mythical values of solidarity, conviviality and respect for others that the sport is quick to promote. These admirable qualities, which are nonetheless widely shared in the sport, are embodied today by the sport's leading figure, the captain of the French national team, Antoine Dupont, who is notoriously committed to opposing the far right and homophobia.
But behind this star, there is a growing list of recent scandals. On January 16, international player Bastien Chalureau was sentenced on appeal to a six-month suspended prison sentence for a physical assault in 2020, which was initially deemed racist. On April 3, prop Wilfrid Hounkpatin received a one-year suspended sentence for domestic violence. On June 17, the trial of five former Grenoble players, accused of gang rape by a woman aged 20 at the time of the alleged offenses, was due to start in Bordeaux. It was postponed due to the absence of one of the rugby players. A similar case occurred on April 13 in Vannes, Brittany, when a woman filed a rape accusation against young rugby players from the Bourg-en-Bresse training center, near Lyon, who were in Brittany for a match.
For the heads of French rugby, this increasing number of incidents is a sign that their sport is not spared by nationwide issues. "We're clearly a reflection of society," explained Florian Grill, president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) since June 2023, at a press conference on Tuesday, July 16. "Our beautiful sport must not be spoiled by isolated acts. Our society is experiencing a rise in violence. Faced with this, we need to educate, inform and prevent, right from the training center and in the senior teams," agreed Malik Hamadache, president of Provale, the players' union.
Nevertheless, some observers wonder whether rugby's own culture might be conducive to the excesses that have come to light. This is particularly true for the post-match parties where alcohol is consumed in abundance and cocaine is widely available. Grill had no hesitation in openly highlighting these scourges and even referred to cocaine as an "endemic problem". In autumn 2023, Jegou tested positive for the substance and was suspended for a month.
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