Very criticized on his working methods, Claude Atcher was sanctioned on Monday. Just over a year from the 2023 World Cup in France, the director general of the Rugby World Cup was laid off “as a precaution” and “with immediate effect”, announced the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa- Castera.
At the end of June, a labor inspection investigation was launched after an article in the sports daily The Team detailing a “deep social malaise” within the GIP (Public Interest Group) France 2023, the institution in charge of the organization of the World Cup led by Claude Atcher.
An exceptional board meeting on Friday
This decision, “during the time necessary to close the investigation”, was taken in consultation with the French Rugby Federation and the CNOSF (French National Olympic and Sports Committee). It comes after a report by the ethics committee which reports on the part of Atcher “alarming managerial practices altering the functioning of the structure and the state of suffering of a certain number of employees”.
“Atcher will no longer be present or active, directly or indirectly, within, in the name and on behalf of the GIP during the period of layoff,” the ministry said. An exceptional board of directors will meet on Friday, added the body, to “validate that the missions of the general manager will be carried out by Mr. Julien Collette, deputy general manager of the GIP”.
A “management by terror”
In an article by The Team, several employees of the organizing committee, former and current, denounced on condition of anonymity the “management by terror” set up by Atcher and his chief of staff within the GIP. “A joint mission of the General Inspectorate of Finance and the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research is triggered by the State to, on the one hand, analyze the existence of possible breaches of economic and financial probity or conflicts of interest and on the other hand, to support the GIP in the organization of some of its strategic programs”, specified the ministry. The 2023 World Cup is scheduled in France from September 8 to October 28.