The rugby year 2024 will have been marked by superb events, but we must also learn the lessons of several dramas and scandals which have largely tarnished the image of this sport in France. The summer of 2024 will have been dark for French rugby, with the tragedy of the disappearance of Medhi Narjissi, but also the affairs which concerned Melvyn Jaminet, Oscar Jégou and Hugo Auradou.
“We become an example”
These are serious events, which cannot be forgotten just because the year has passed. Serge Blanco reacted to Midi Olympique on this sad news which caused strong shocks to the very heart of French rugby. And he insists on the duty of exemplary behavior of the players who wear the French team jersey. Even more so today with the existence of social networks, in an era where we see everything, where all information circulates, and very quickly.
An international has a duty to set an example (…) The slightest gesture is filmed… You must take care of yourself and others. We've all experienced that, we've all been young, we've all toured, we've laughed, we've joked, there are things perhaps in the jokes we've made that wouldn't go down at all. Today. But the problem is that when you put on the rooster jersey, and even off the field, in everyday life, you become an example. It is absolutely necessary to comply with this discipline: the XV of France must be placed above everything.
To summarize
The rugby year 2024 will have been marked by superb events, but we must also learn the lessons of several dramas and scandals which have largely tarnished the image of this sport in France, in particular the Jaminet and Jégou-Auradou affairs. Serge Blanco responds to this news by recalling the exemplary nature of French internationals.
