Two young players from SCO Rugby from Angers, aged 18, were victims of racist insults on the US Tours pitch last Saturday, November 16. Letters were sent to the president of Tours and to the French Rugby Federation.
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These are matters that the world of rugby could do without. This Saturday, November 16, Abdoulaye Gassama and his teammate Georges Hodebourg de Verbois, both players of SCO Angers playing in National U18 (second division of the category), claim to have been the target of a racist insult from ‘a player from Tours.
“It was a tense match in the game since the score was close for a long time”begins Abdoulaye Gassama. But the comments were made at the very end of the match, when the locals were quite well ahead in the score. “I was coming out of a ruck when I heard ‘little black(ies) of shit‘…A teammate comes up to me and asks me if I heard correctly what the player [adverse, NdR] just told us”explains the young Angevin rugby player.
I had never suffered racist insults on a rugby field.
The player, for the first time the victim of racist insults on the pitch, then warns the referee of the situation and requests a sporting sanction. Except that the referee did not hear the comments cited previously and therefore cannot exclude the Touraine player.
At the end of the match, the tone rose between the two teams. “It got a little heated but without coming to blows”specifies Angevin. “I cannot accept the comments that were made”he continues on the phone.
A new exchange between him, the referee and his coach was able to take place after the match. In view of the situation, the refereeing body mentioned this incident in its end-of-match report. After the match, Abdoulaye Gassama received messages of apology from several opposing players.
Abdoulaye Gassama then said he hoped for a sporting sanction, at least, for the player who committed the insults. “His first sanction is already to see all the support that has been given and the media coverage”proclaims the young man.
The president of the Angers club sent a letter to the general secretariat of the French Rugby Federation as well as to the president of the US Tours. For his part, Abdoulaye Gassama contacted the C3PR, the prevention and protection unit for rugby populations, a special commission of the federation.
Contacted by France 3 on November 19, the Tours club has not yet responded to our requests.
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