It's a huge slap in the face for Bernard Laporte, current president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR), and for his supporters.

The designation of Patrick Buisson as delegate president of the FFR was rejected by 51.06% of the approximately 1,500 clubs which took part in the consultation spread over three days, following the conviction of Bernard Laporte at first instance8 (for which he appealed) for passive corruption, influence peddling, illegal taking of interests, concealment of misuse of corporate assets and misuse of corporate assets.

The rest of the soap opera will be known on Friday, at the end of the steering committee of the governing body of French rugby, which is to meet at the CNR of Marcoussis (Essonne), in the presence of the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.

For the leader of Ovale Ensemble, Florian Grill (57), only one outcome is possible.

Eight months before the start of the World Cup, the president of the Ile-de-France League, Bernard Laporte's main opponent, is asking for new general elections.

What is your reaction to the results of this vote?

First, the turnout was huge.

90% of the voters is considerable.

Then, the “no” vote is very important, while there are many clubs that did not dare to vote “no” because of the proximity of the World Cup.

The clubs express a strong desire to turn the page on this governance.

This is not a defeat for Patrick Buisson.

We had clearly said that if he won, we would line up out of respect for the World Cup.

I expect the board of directors, where there are people who genuinely love rugby – at least I hope so – to do what is statutorily in their power, that is to say organize general elections in six weeks.

This has been our request from the start, and it is the one made by 51% of the clubs.



What do you intend to tell the steering committee?

There will be no triumphalism, it is not at all the kind of house.

It takes a lot of measurement.

We will have to bring rugby together, calm down.

Once again, the steering committee has the power in six weeks to organize elections and that is what will make it possible to turn the page on these repeated cases.

Rugby has values ​​and the first of the values ​​is respect for democracy.

The score is almost the opposite of that which allowed Bernard Laporte to win (the latter's list had won with 51.47% of the vote against that of Florian Grill in the October 2020 elections).

We respected the results at the time.

I expect Bernard Laporte's teams to also respect this vote.

The team in place can very well propose another name as deputy president...

Everyone knows that Patrick Buisson was their best candidate.

Propose someone else, it would not be correct with regard to the expression of the clubs.

It's urgent.

The clubs have spoken.

Democracy has spoken.

A World Cup is coming, you have to be reasonable.

In the event of new elections, will you be the head of the Oval Ensemble list?

Sure.

There is no doubt about it.

This is what we have been planning since the day after the elections.

We are ready.

We have 600 volunteers, 14 working groups working on women's rugby, rugby 5, the division of major leagues, competitions... We have been running a "bis federation" for two years.

Other candidates than us can present themselves.

We are on time to organize a real election that will calm rugby, organize the World Cup in the best conditions and preserve our Blues.

Are you worried that the France team will be affected by everything that happens at the top of the FFR?

I do not think so.

The Blues are in their bubble, Fabien Galthié is inhabited by his mission.

Anyway, there is a change of president.

It could have been Patrick Buisson.

It was no longer Bernard Laporte.

What is affected is the image of rugby, and the clubs have clearly expressed the desire for that to change.

Could you work with Fabien Galthié, who has never hidden his loyalty to Bernard Laporte?

He mentioned his loyalty two years ago.

This year, he refrained from commenting.

There is no question of changing anything in a staff that is so successful.

Above all, we must let it happen, preserve it.

On the other hand, there are a lot of things to move in territorial rugby, that of small clubs.

This is where the problem lies.

The youth categories too, cadets and juniors.

There are really big projects to be done there.

This is my priority.

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  • Rugby

  • Sport

  • Bernard Laporte

  • Fabien Galthie

  • XV of France

  • Rugby World Cup 2023