Only a few days after the compromising revelations of So Foot, the French Football Federation is once again linked to accusations of sexual abuse. The journalist Romain Molina denounces several heinous acts, but also the silence of the authorities and of the president of the FFF Nol Le Grat.
Nol Le Grat, the president of the FFF.
Romain Molina had promised a real bombshell that was going to shake up the French Football Federation. A few days after the publication of an investigation by So Foot on the FFF, the media Josimar in turn publishes an article by the French journalist which is indeed likely to make noise.
When something happens, you shut your mouth
In this survey entitled 40 years of silence , Molina – author of reports and investigations for media such as The Guardian, CNN, the BBC and the New York Times – denounces several acts of sexual assault, harassment or violence against minors, and highlights the silence of the authorities. He assures that Nol Le Grat, current president of the FFF, and other senior officials of the Federation have concealed multiple cases of sexual abuse since the 1980s.
When something happens, you shut your mouth. That’s how it works. They are too powerful. As soon as you talk about abuse, you’re offside explains a former member of the FFF board of directors in this article. The culprits? It’s not only the FFF but also the LFP, the clubs, adds this source. I mean, have you seen how many cases we’ve had in the last two years? What have we done to protect our children?
Molina points to the laxity of the authorities
According to this investigation, several cases of sexual abuse, blackmail and harassment, in particular towards minor players, have involved coaches, agents or even senior officials of the elite of French football. Molina cites, for example, Anglique Roujas, former coach in charge of the women’s section of the Clairefontaine training center and dismissed by the FFF because of sexual relations with underage players.
Another case mentioned, that of David San Jos, dismissed by the instance for inappropriate behavior towards a 13-year-old Clairefontaine. If these two people were fired, Molina denounces above all the laxity of the Federation, which warned the authorities only once contrary to what the law imposes, and only under the pressure of the players who had threatened to go on strike.
The Minister of Sports launches an audit and control mission
These new accusations come as the Minister of Sports launched an audit on Friday after the revelations of the magazine So Foot. The Minister of Sports Amlie Ouda-Castera, Le Grat and Florence Hardouin (director general of the body) met during the day. The Minister told them that she was going to initiate a mission from the General Inspectorate for Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) to audit and control the management of the Federation and compliance with the obligations that are attach to it explained a press release from the minister.
In its investigation, published on September 8, So Foot evoked in particular a reprehensible behavior of Le Grat who, according to several anonymous testimonies, sent sexual SMS to the employees of the instance. Following these accusations, the president of 3F decided to file a defamation complaint against the magazine because of the seriously defamatory imputations contained in the article.
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