The French Rugby Federation concluded its investigation on Thursday into the disappearance at sea of U18 international Medhi Narjissi. The FFR is implicating the technical sports advisors present at this gathering of this category of the French team, in South Africa in August.
The French Rugby Federation has asked the Ministry of Sports to end “the assignments to it of the sports technical advisors in charge during this trip, due to the breach of trust” resulting from the events, according to a press release published after the end of the internal investigation conducted by the FFR. As a reminder, the French U18 team was in South Africa as part of an international tournament when, on August 7, Medhi Narjissi was trapped by the currents and swept out to sea on a beach known to be dangerous near the Cape of Good Hope. The players were there for a recovery session organized by the management.
According to the federation, “ The decision to hold a water recovery session on Dias Beach was taken without considering the dangerous nature of the site ” and especially when the risks “ could have been perceived at least by a sports technical advisor “, upstream of the activity. ” The running and supervision of the session appear to have been poorly managed, particularly due to the lack of clear supervision instructions given to staff members and players. “, the body also said in its press release. The FFR also asked the ministry for explanations on ” the conditions under which the National Technical Directorate formed the staff of the France U18 team at the beginning of July 2024 “, a month before the trip to South Africa.
- RFI
