France’s national teams will no longer be allowed to drink alcohol on team socials as part of a new “performance plan” unveiled by the Fédération Française de Rugby after a summer of controversy.
In July, full-back Melvyn Jaminet was suspended for 34 weeks and fined €30,000 (£24,924) after posting a racist video on social media during France’s summer tour of Argentina. The 25-year-old Toulon outside back was filmed saying: “The first Arab I come across, I’ll throw him a head-butt.”
On the same tour, young forwards Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, both 21, were alleged to have raped and beaten a 39-year-old woman and held her against her will after meeting her in a nightclub in Mendoza. The pair were placed under house arrest before being allowed to travel to the French embassy in Buenos Aires. They were allowed to return to France at the start of September but the charges against them – which they deny – remain. Medhi Narjissi was also swept away by a wave in Cape Town as France prepared for an under-18 tournament. His body has never been recovered.
On Tuesday, the FFR revealed a “performance plan of 20 concrete steps around the prevention, living environment, evaluating new systems, sanctions protocol and also what sport, rugby clubs and its players mean in society”, which will come into action from this autumn’s internationals.
Alcohol features heavily in the FFR’s plan. Under a heading entitled “steps to bolster the residential areas of France teams”, the statement reads that all members of all France teams will have to sign a commitment charter at least once a season. In that charter, the FFR wishes to ensure that team-building exercises do not feature alcohol, as well as banning the stimulant for team socials.
The FFR also wishes to introduce an internal regulation which allows it to “carry out occasional drug and alcohol testing” on its players.
Other measures include, in team hotels, the restricting of guests to communal areas who are not known to the management, players or their family. The FFR also wishes to enlist former players to act as “godfathers” and “godmothers” – role models – to players in the national youth sides.
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