Jalil Narjissi, former rugby player and father of Medhi, a young French U18 international who disappeared at sea during a training camp in South Africa on August 7, confides his distress and demands accountability from the FFR.
A heartbreaking moment struck the pre-match between Toulouse and La Rochelle on Sunday. The Stade Ernest-Wallon paid a poignant tribute to Medhi Narjissi (17 years old), a club player who died on August 7 during a training camp with the French U18 team in South Africa. The young scrum-half was swept away by a rip current from the ocean while he was doing a recovery session with his teammates. On Sunday, his teammates from Stade Toulousain burst into tears during the tribute in his memory which took place in the company of his parents. Dejected, his father Jalil, a former hooker for Agen, confided his inconsolable sadness and anger towards the FFR to France Télévisions on Monday.
“We will never accept it”
“For us, it (the tribute) was something very strong in relation to what Medhi represents, for these people, his club, his teammates, the big Toulouse family who were there for Medhi,” he said. “Our life stopped on August 7, we are surviving this catastrophe today. This moment did us good. Knowing that Medhi brightened up these people… He was appreciated by everyone as a 17-year-old boy who loves his sport, living, who does not deserve to leave like that. No one, no child. We still have trouble accepting it and we will never accept it.”
The former Moroccan international is now demanding accountability, a few days after the submission of the provisional report of the FFR’s internal investigation into the events. “We were on site in South Africa (after their son’s disappearance),” he explains. “Now, those responsible must raise their hands, be judged and punished. That’s what we’re waiting for. We’re preparing to fight so that the truth is known and so that people are punished. I helped the federation to have clear and precise content in its report. They can pass the buck. Things are clear. We know the mistakes they made.”
Jalil Narjissi does not tolerate the staff’s imprudence in organizing this recovery session on an unsupervised site despite the presence of signs warning of the danger of these rip currents. “There are signs everywhere on the path to the beach,” he notes. “The conditions were also extreme. There was rain, the storm, it was winter in South Africa. If there are not all the signs there… They are not blind.”
