REPORTING. Death of Nicolas killed by a bullet in the head in Ardèche: after Thomas, last year, an entire Rugby club mowed down by ultraviolence

Blue and white balloons rise towards the fluffy sky. Long hugs punctuated by sobs break the silence. On this pitch of the Romanais-Péageois Rugby Club (RCRP), the local club of Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme) where we usually celebrate the exploits of the youth teams, it is dejection. A mixture of anger, indignation and an unfortunate feeling of déjà vu.

In just 12 months, a second young person from this field rugby, Nicolas Dumas, 22 years old, a popular player within the pennant team, succumbed to a bullet in the head, victim of ultra-violence which struck again this club. After the death of Thomas Perotto, 16, stabbed to death on November 19, 2023, in Crépol (Drôme), after a village ball, fate continues. “It’s a double punishment, it’s going to have to stop,” says an RCRP supervisor, disappointed.

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This time, the circumstances are different. On the night of October 31 to 1^is November, in the parking lot of the Le Seven nightclub, in Saint-Péray (Ardèche), Nicolas waits in front of the front door of this night establishment located around thirty kilometers from Romans-sur-Isère. An armed, hooded man opens fire with a handgun. The rugby player is fatally injured. Two other people, a security guard and a young woman, were injured.

“Why, us?”

Collateral victim of blind violence, Nicolas’s only mistake was to find himself in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Thomas, Nicolas, killed for nothing. A terrible, incomprehensible law of series. As if the hand of misfortune had set its sights on this historic rugby club, founded in 1949, without ever letting go. So obviously, this Wednesday, November 6, when these clusters of balloons fly into the air, in leaden silence, it is the same question that haunts the 3,000 participants in this white march in memory of Nicolas. “Why, us?”

“We have the impression that this will never stop. This is too much! Young people can no longer have fun without the risk of being killed? Where are we going?” are outraged by the mothers who came to support Gwladys and Eric, the parents of the young victim, devastated and wearing a t-shirt bearing the image of their son.

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Broken youth

“Here, we eat rugby, we sleep rugby, we live rugby,” continues Manuel, retired, who came to the Donnadieu stadium, with his son, Simon, a young father. “Everyone played rugby in the family,” he said. “This story is crazy, what happened to Nicolas could have happened to anyone.” A mother continues: “We will end up not letting our children out, it’s becoming too dangerous!” At his side, friends of Nicolas console themselves in the arms of his teammates who proudly wear the blue and white jersey. In the midst of tears, a whole youth is broken.

While the gaping wound after Thomas’ death last year is still as raw as ever, the sudden disappearance of this other young Roman with devastating running speed amplifies the pain. Added to the muffled anger bubbling around the pitch and in the streets of Romans is this feeling of injustice.

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Last year, the ultra-right tried to recover the tragedy of Crépol by giving this dramatic news item a truncated color of an “anti-white” racist crime: young people from the city, hooded, from the popular district of La Monnaie in Romans, would have come to fight with rugby players from good families. This had caused great tensions and the creation of a nauseating climate. Last year, during the march for Thomas, a young person from La Monnaie did not dare join the procession, fearing stigma. “He had his head down, I took his hand so that he could participate in the tribute like everyone else, he was afraid of being assimilated with the young people in his neighborhood,” says this father.

While the motive for this deadly brawl in November 2023 still remains unclear, the investigation is struggling to reconstruct the exact scenario of this evening despite the indictment of 14 suspects, including eight placed in pre-trial detention. A year later, the ultra-right is this time keeping away from this new drama. The tribute to Nicolas is intended to be “apolitical”, insist the family and the club.

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“Don’t forget Zakaria, killed at 15”

In Romans, a former shoe town of 33,000 inhabitants, rugby also plays its driving role in social bonding and integration. “A few years ago,” recalls Patrick Bodoin, vice-president of the RCRP, “two players of Jewish and Muslim faith made up the first line. There has never been any racism here!” A club educator and social actor, in Valence, the large neighboring city, recalls that Zakaria, 15 years old, an ordinary teenager, also lost his life, stabbed to death, on April 9, 2024, in the La Monnaie d’ where the suspects in the Crépol affair come from. He was a member of the local football club. He too, victim of exacerbated violence by wanting to intervene in an altercation. Romanians, who especially do not want to forget his memory, wrote to the town hall of their town to remind them that Zakaria is added to the first names of Thomas and Nicolas… He too was part of a sports club.

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Death of Nicolas in a shooting in Ardèche: he played in the same rugby club as Thomas, killed in Crépol in 2023

“These young people who fall into ultra-violence no longer have a framework. The health crisis and Covid have accentuated the fractures. Before, when young delinquents shot each other, some said, they killed each other… Today, the situation is different. We are witnessing score-settling which results in innocent victims and now, it’s no longer the same!” notes this educator and volunteer.

For Fatiha, a 39-year-old mother, “society has become more violent”. “This violence does not only affect Romans but all of France! Look what happened in Poitiers, Rennes or in the Paris region with this brawl on the RER? Unfortunately, it is the youth who are paying the price” . Fatiha lives not far from the Donnadieu stadium. His three nephews play in this rugby club. She takes part in the tribute for Nicolas, accompanied by her mother, Louiza. According to her, the lack of street educators and youth workers, in a society that is falling apart, is detrimental.

If today is the time for meditation and dignified and measured silence, “out of respect for Nico’s family”, anger is not far away. Photos of Thomas and Nicolas adorn the walls of the clubhouse in a stadium plunged into mourning. The team one match, scheduled for this Sunday, November 10, in federal 3 (seventh division), is canceled. “The young people wanted to play for the memory of Nicolas… but it’s too difficult,” confides Patrick Bodoin, his eyes reddened, riveted on this lawn without two of his children.