Rain of tributes to the memory of former Ivorian rugby player Max Brito
Former Ivorian rugby player Max Brito.
© Courtesy of Ivorian Rugby Federation
Text by: Nicolas Bamba Follow
3 mins
Max Brito, former winger of the XV of Côte d'Ivoire, died Monday, December 19 at the age of 54.
The ex-rugby player remained quadriplegic after a tackle that occurred during the Elephants' third game during the 1995 World Cup against Tonga.
Ivorian rugby and its former teammates today mourn a faithful and joking friend, a passionate and a figure of the oval.
Publicity
Read more
The sad news was announced on Tuesday December 20 by the Biscarosse Olympique Rugby club: Max Brito is gone.
“
The Brito family, their children Mike and Anthony, are saddened to inform you of the death of Max Brito, which occurred on Monday December 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Max was accompanied with dignity and without suffering on his last journey.
»
"
The family deeply thanks the Biscarrosse Olympique club, which has always been present throughout these years, as well as all the people who, from near or far, have always shown their affection and their support
", continues the communicated.
The former rugby player had known no other club than Biscarosse Olympique.
June 3, 1995: tragedy against Tonga
Born April 8, 1968 in Abidjan, Max Brito discovered rugby at the age of five, when his family moved to Biscarosse.
Having become a rugby player, he was part of
the Ivorian selection which participated for the first time in its history in the World Cup
, in 1995, in South Africa.
He was then 27 years old and was called to replace his brother Patrick, victim of pubalgia.
The winger, trained in rugby in France, was to bring to the Ivorian XV his experience and his game.
Thierry Kouamé was his teammate in the Elephants.
He remembers the Biscarosse player who had just arrived in the national team.
“
Max was selected for his speed, his sense of the game. He was three-quarter wing.
Me, I was center.
I was very happy to learn from him, his framing, his excesses.
He was really fast
,” he told Arthur Verdelet.
On June 3, 1995, the life of the newcomer tragically changed during the match of Ivory Coast against Tonga.
We were playing the 3rd minute of the game when Inoke Afeaki tackled – legally – Max Brito.
In the aftermath, several opponents fell on him.
Aboubacar Camara was on the ground, "
right next to it
".
He has not forgotten that terrible moment.
He tells Eric Mamruth's microphone: “
Hearing him screaming, suffering… It's a very bad memory.
I see him leave on the stretcher and promise to come back.
Unfortunately, he couldn't.
»
Victim of a rupture of the spinal cord between the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae, Max Brito will remain a quadriplegic, despite the surgical interventions carried out in emergency.
The 1995 World Cup was marked by this tragic accident.
“
He had a beautiful and big heart
”
Despite this drama, Max Brito never denied his love for the oval.
Until the end of his life, he remained close to Biscarosse Olympique.
And in 2015, with the help of former teammates, he returned to Côte d'Ivoire where he laid the foundations of an academy in his name, with the Ivorian Rugby Federation, to train and help children through this sport. .
At the time of saying goodbye to him, Thierry Kouamé remembers a "
living
", "
passionate about rugby
", "
joyful
" man.
Aboubacar Camara draws the same portrait of his former teammate.
He remembers his "
love for rugby
" and his "
joie de vivre
".
Max Brito was a "
rogue who teased everyone
", with "
great kindness and a beautiful and big heart
".
“
He always brought us his joie de vivre, he told us jokes that everyone liked
,” insists Aboubacar Camara.
Biscarosse Olympique Rugby does not forget the "
lesson of courage and humanity
" that the Ivorian has delivered throughout his career.
The Ivorian Rugby Federation salutes this "
emblematic figure of the oval ball
".
“
Thank you Max for your commitment
,” she concludes.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Sports
Rugby
Ivory Coast