Rugby: Bernard Laporte will propose his "withdrawal" from his functions as president of the FFR

Europe 1 with AFP 8 p.m., December 19, 2022

The president of the French Rugby Federation Bernard Laporte will propose to the Minister of Sports "his withdrawal" from his duties pending his appeal trial.

Bernard Laporte, who "remains president" of the FFR, will also propose to Amélie Oudéa-Castéra his temporary replacement by a president-delegate, said the Federation in a press release, sent following the holding of a Federal Bureau in the morning.

According to the Federation, Mr. Laporte "informed the Federal Bureau of his desire to follow" to the letter "the injunction of the Ethics Committee of the FFR", which had asked him on Friday to "step back temporarily, on a precautionary basis, until a final criminal decision".

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Consequently, the press release adds, "the Federal Office has decided unanimously by its members and in accordance with the regulations and statutes of our institution, to follow and apply to the letter the injunction of the Ethics Committee ".

In office since the end of 2016, Mr. Laporte, re-elected in 2020 for a four-year term, was found guilty on December 13 of five of the six offenses for which he was prosecuted, including those of passive corruption and influence peddling.

Having appealed the decision of the Paris Criminal Court, his suspended prison sentence, as well as the ban on exercising the activity of president of the FFR for a period of two years, are not immediately enforceable.

Ms. Oudéa-Castéra announced on Sunday that she would receive Bernard Laporte on Thursday, after having estimated, as soon as the judgment was made public, that the conviction of the former coach of the Blues was "obstructing" his mission at the head of the FFR, to nine months of the Rugby World Cup in France (September 8 - October 28, 2023).