Petre Mitu, in Montauban's jersey, facing Munster opener Ronan O'Gara, October 10, 2008 in Limerick.

-

Peter Morrisson / AP / Sipa

  • Since 2014, Petre Mitu, 43 years old today, has been fighting Charcot disease.

  • The former Romanian international scrum-half played for fifteen years in France, where he settled at the end of his career.

  • His former Montauban teammate, Sylvain Jonnet, explains why an online prize pool has been launched to support him.

Former full-back or winger of Montauban, between 2005 and 2010, Sylvain Jonnet remembers: “We were a good bunch of friends”.

And between friends, we support each other.

This is how the idea of ​​a pot intended for his ex-teammate Petre Mitu and his family germinated, launched at the beginning of the week by "the former players and coaches of the MTG XV", as specified on the platform. Leetchi.

Now 43, the ex-Romanian international was diagnosed in 2014 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Charcot's disease.

A merciless evil that fights the former scrum-half installed in Tarn-et-Garonne after having scoured the lawns of France for fifteen years, from Aurillac to Castelsarrasin via Grenoble, Poitiers and Tarbes.

But it was in Montauban that his talents as a player and scorer were expressed the longest, from 2006 to 2010.

Call for solidarity: Petre Mitu, a former international scrum half-back, has Charcot's disease.

His family needs help to continue to give him all the support he needs.

Please relay / contribute for him and his family https://t.co/KoFI3aQ8MI

- Antoine Semeria (@avosports) February 22, 2021

Sylvain Jonnet makes things clear: “Petre's family did not ask for money,” asserts the forty-something who also lived in the 82, before retracing the genesis of the project.

“We spoke again on Saturday with Romain Sazy [former second line Montalban, now captain of La Rochelle].

We talked about everything and nothing, the elders, and we got to talking about Petre.

With the Covid, we cannot go and see it.

But we decided to set up a kitty to show that we are still with him as well as with his wife and children.

It is an initiative of former MTG XV players and coaches [Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers] who are also aware.

But of course anyone can donate.

"

A sporting epic, with Munster as the highlight

The putting online of the pot was preceded by SMS exchanges with the Mitu family and discussions on WhatsApp between elders of the glorious epic of the Greens and the Blacks.

The great adventure of the MTG XV, in which the third line Ibrahim Diarra, who died in December 2019, also actively participated, ended abruptly with a bankruptcy filing in spring 2010.

But its climax remains unforgettable for the players and their supporters: a trip to the ogres of Munster, in October 2008. At Thomond Park, the “little” guys from Sapiac had made the Irish, reigning European champions tremble (19 -17), with a try from Jonnet and four penalties from Mitu.

“There were one or two very great players.

Otherwise we were guys who had come to revive us with two very good coaches, Travers and Labit, details the former player trained in Paris, champion of France with the Stade Français in 2000. Wherever he went, Petre left the image of someone generous, much appreciated.

"

Today, Mitu fights against this neurodegenerative disease as have done or are doing other rugby personalities, like the South African Joost van der Westhuizen (died in 2017) or the Scottish Doddie Weir.

Sport

XV of France: Former French international Ibrahim Diarra died at 36 after stroke

Toulouse

VIDEO.

Toulouse: Victims of cancer, these women are also treated on a rugby pitch

  • Health

  • Romania

  • Jackpot

  • Montauban

  • Society

  • Rugby

  • Solidarity