proposed by Bernard Laporte to the post of delegated president of the FFR, the designation of Patrick Buisson was rejected on Thursday by a referendum within amateur clubs.
by Clément MARTEL
It will not be Patrick Buisson. Called to vote since Monday to validate, or not, the appointment of the current vice-president of the FFR as a deputy president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR), the amateur clubs have spoken against, at the end of the referendum which was organized between Monday 23 and Thursday 26 January at noon. This refusal comes two days after the placement in police custody, Tuesday, of Bernard Laporte -for a matter different from that for which he was sentenced in mid -December at first instance for corruption -, the boss of French rugby, who officially “withdrawn” from the Federation. Hexagonal rugby bodies sink into the crisis.
Called to answer – electronic means – to the question “do you approve of Mr. Bernard Laporte’s proposal to designate Mr. Patrick Buisson as a deputy president of the FFR?”, The 1,490 amateur rugby clubs have Responded “against” to 51.06 %, according to results communicated on Thursday, and validated by the Ethics and Ethics Committee of French Rugby, guarantor of the ballot.
In the name of the “continuity”, “stability” and “serenity” order words, Patrick Buisson called, for a week to trust him, the former melee half in the long journey as a manager – in Uzès, In the Gard, then at the Provence Committee. In this year when French rugby will host, from September 8 to October 28, the male rugby world cup, the current vice-president of the FFF insisted: “We should not be in the division: what we Wishes, it is stability. “However, Thursday, the clubs rejected the candidacy of the one who claimed to want to” embody the end of business “, as asked for the opposition to Bernard Laporte.
new Referendum or elections?
Close to Bernard Laporte, whose team he joined in 2016 after having worked under his predecessor, Pierre Camou, Patrick Buisson is part of the FFR steering committee, which has never been dissociated with the facts of “corruption passive “,” trafficking in influence “,” illegal taking of interests “,” abuse of corporate goods “and” concealment of abuse of corporate goods “for which the ex-selection of the XV of France was condemned in first body in December. Bernard Laporte called on this conviction and is therefore always considered innocent.
Following the Laporte trial, the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, insisted that the president, who, initially, “did not plan to abandon his functions”, to set back. What he did, at the beginning of January, by abandoning all of his prerogatives and proposing, in agreement with the statutes of the FFR, a deputy president to replace him.
The result of this referendum is also a victory for the opposition to Bernard Laporte within the FFR, led by the president of the Ile-de-France League Florian Grill. His collective Oval Ensemble wishes the holding of new elections since the conviction of Bernard Laporte to two years in prison suspended for having established a “corruption pact” with the president of the club of Montpellier Mohed Altrad. In vain, until then.
In its press release, the FFR specifies that “a steering committee will be held this Friday in the presence of the Minister of Sports to rule on the follow -up to be given to the result of this consultation”. If the opposition requires election holding (possible within six weeks), according to federal statutes, Bernard Laporte theoretically has the possibility of offering a new name to the referendum. The Minister of Sports, who very closely follows the problems of governance of sports federations, find this option possible?
Less than two weeks before the kick -off of the Six Nations tournament, in which the XV of France is holding the trophy, French rugby has not finished shaking up.