Covid-19: professional rugby players in the field of mutual aid

In front of Covid-19, rugby is a collective game. Like other sportsmen and women, players from thirty professional rugby clubs (Top 14 and pro D2) have been multiplying projects for several weeks to recover funds intended for the hospital sector. Many have thus chosen to offer jerseys which are offered at auction or to relay calls for donations to online prize pools. But several professional players have chosen to go further, by putting themselves directly at the service of associations or hospitals.

Gaël Fickou is one of them. Usually, this brilliant three-quarter plays rather good attacking balls on a rugby field than dishes in the kitchen of a Parisian restaurant. But with the confinement and the parenthesis of his professional career, the player of the French Stade Paris has decided to give his time for those who fight on the front line against the coronavirus. In a restaurant located right next to the Jean-Bouin stadium, where he usually trains, he helps prepare meals for caregivers from neighboring hospitals. "Basically, I'm not very good at cooking, but I wanted to feel useful and help the nursing staff," said the French rugby star to the Rugbyrama site.

The most capped player of the XV of France Gaël Fickou entered the kitchen with his teammates at the Stade Français to feed hospital staff and residents in need. # Stade2 pic.twitter.com/Y1qbzjIkD3

The task of this 26-year-old player, who has 55 caps for the Blues, does not stop there since he also takes care, with the help of other volunteers, of the delivery of these meals. With the Covid-19 crisis, several of his teammates have also turned into deliverers: in agreement with a partner company of the club, they bring fresh produce to supporters in need. Several players have thus toured in recent weeks, such as the French internationals Paul Gabrillagues and Jonathan Danty, the Argentine opener Nicolás Sánchez or the young scrum half Arthur Coville.

In this special time, we do not forget you.

The #Solidaire Tour continues. Happy Easter everyone 🤗 Take care of yourself. #SFParis pic.twitter.com/rnRv7gXRwi

Other professional rugby players have chosen to give their time and energy during this period of confinement, like Nans Ducuing, back of the Union Bordeaux Bègles and French international, who participates in the delivery from time to time meals made by the association À la bonne heure. It distributes 500 meals a day in ten hospitals or residences for the elderly located in the Bordeaux region. And it can also count on the help of several other rugby players who occasionally offer their services.

The desire to be useful

With confinement, some rugby players have even gone further by devoting themselves to new activities. Player of CA Brive Corrèze, who evolves in the elite of French rugby, Guillaume Galletier has chosen to take advantage of his confinement in Hérault to lend a hand to a market gardener installed in the neighboring department, who was looking for people to deliver to customers. The 23-year-old did not hesitate and quickly signed a delivery contract. His story was told by many media, inspiring Guillaume Galletier on Twitter with an amused comment.

I had more articles in the newspapers delivering vegetables than playing rugby .. I don't know how I should take it 😂👍🏻🤦🏼‍♂️

Bakary Meïté also had to learn to live with unprecedented media exposure. The requests have multiplied since this solid third line joined the maintenance staff of a hospital in the capital. Player of US Carcassonne, pro D2 club, Bakary Meïté was passing through the Paris region, where he is from, when confinement was decreed. Hosted by a loved one in Seine-Saint-Denis, he learns that his nephew Zakarya, who plays with the Espoirs team in Carcassonne, has chosen to volunteer to join the cleaning services of a Parisian hospital.

Bakary Meïté immediately imitated it. Since the end of March, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., he has been responsible for disinfecting contact points (door handles, switches, handrails, etc.) in two buildings at Sainte-Périne Hospital, located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. For him, the main thing was to be able to be useful in this crisis. And he is happy, thanks to the interest aroused by his choice, to be able to highlight those who have been doing this work for a very long time and who continue their mission in a very difficult context, despite the fear of illness and the lack of staff. "It is really tense but they hold on, they do not back down," said France 24 this player experienced in the art of melee.

In confinement in Paris, @therealbak and his nephew Zakaria volunteered to help the nursing staff at Sainte-Périne hospital in the 16th arrondissement.

Bravo to you for this magnificent gesture! 👏 pic.twitter.com/RA5uXzQF0f

The 36-year-old captain of the Ivory Coast rugby team does not yet know when he can return to his club. Or when he can resume his profession as a professional rugby player. The duration of his mission to hospital depends of course on the evolution of the pandemic and the confinement, decreed until May 11. As long as he can make himself useful, he will in any case continue to go there, 6 days a week, participating, at his level, in the gigantic effort made by hospital and medical staff in the fight against Covid-19 .

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