The bigger it is, the more it’s acceptable ? Not this time. Serge Simon’s candidacy for the post of deputy president to replace Bernard Laporte “until the final criminal decision” concerning the president of the French Rugby Federation, sentenced at first instance to two years in prison suspended for corruption, was challenged Thursday by the ethics committee of the FFR. As reported the Figarothe latter did not see favorably the appointment of a personality also involved in the Laporte-Altrad trial.
Bernard Laporte’s choice therefore falls on Patrick Buisson, vice-president of the Federation in charge of amateur rugby since October 2020. Described as a “man in the shadows”, this former leader of the Uzès club (Gard) and of the committee of Provence, has the advantage of being rather appreciated in the clubs. Important data, because this choice has yet to be validated by the approximately 1,900 amateur clubs in France, called to vote for or against the name of Patrick Buisson between January 23 and 27.
“An ersatz democracy”
However, the outcome of the vote is not certain for the Laporte camp. Because even before knowing the name of the candidate proposed by the president of the FFR, the opposition group Oval Set and its leader Florian Grill had published a press release on Tuesday in which they called for a vote “no” to what they call a “referendum”.
“It’s a travesty of voting! The proposed referendum is an ersatz democracy, wrote Florian Grill. The artificial maintenance of Bernard Laporte and his team is only the result of the weakness of the statutes of the FFR concerning the ethics and ethics of its leaders. The choice of a successor by a condemned president makes us a laughing stock in the eyes of the whole world. Oval together would have preferred a general election.