The Ministry of Sports responded to the conclusions of the FFR’s internal investigation into the disappearance of young Medhi Narjissi in a press release on Thursday. This report from the federation is damning for the staff of the French U18 team, which was in South Africa for 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 doing a recovery session organized by their management. According to the federation, “the decision to organize a recovery session in the water on Dias Beach was taken without considering the dangerousness of the site”. The FFR also asked the ministry for explanations on “the conditions in 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.
IGESR seized of an investigation mission
The ministry therefore responded by taking note of “the elements detailed by the FFR in its press release and in the internal investigation report received today”. “Without waiting for the conclusions of this report and as announced on 16 August, the MSJOP has taken all the measures within its jurisdiction, in particular administrative measures with regard to the agents concerned, who have been notified of a precautionary suspension pending the end of the ongoing administrative investigation”, the ministry specifies.
And to add: “To carry it out, the Minister instructed the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) on 4 September to conduct an investigation mission aimed at identifying and objectifying the individual and collective responsibilities that led to Mehdi’s disappearance. The mission will deliver its conclusions before the end of November. The people involved in the organisation and supervision of the stay will be heard as part of this investigation.” A review of the FFR’s internal procedures relating to the supervision of minors during training courses will also be conducted.
Strengthening supervision of minors
The mission will also have to formulate “recommendations aimed at strengthening the conditions for organizing sports training courses and stays for minors, for all federations”. “The MSJOP considers it useful to recall that it effectively exercises hierarchical authority over the sports technical advisors placed with the sports federations. But this is supplemented by a functional authority exercised by the National Technical Director and his teams, himself placed under the functional authority of the president of the federation. The functional authority allows the organization and coordination of the daily action of the agents placed with a federation”, concludes the Ministry of Sports.
During a press conference at the end of August, Medhi’s father, Jalil Narjissi, had castigated a “catastrophic” supervision where “no adult reacted” when Medhi was taken away. “It was the physical trainer of the French team who made the decision to take them there,” he had declared. “It’s incomprehensible.”
- RMC Sport
