“Rugby is a bit the cause of his death”: Noélie Michallet confides three years after Jordan’s death

It is not just a simple testimony, it is a tribute but also a “cry of warning”, as Le Parisien headlines in today’s edition. Noélie Michallet speaks almost three years after the death by suicide of her husband Jordan, in Rouen. And even if she has few answers as to the reasons which pushed the former fly-half to this gesture, the young woman cannot help but return to rugby, a sport which he practiced at the professional level.

At the time of the facts, January 18, 2022, Jordan Michallet was only 29 years old, had been married for a year and a half, was expecting a child and had just seen his contract renewed until 2025. “ÇIt could have relieved him but he wanted to honor the trust placed in himshe said as quoted by Le Parisien. He was the star player, he must have thought he was obliged to give even more.” Whatever his daily life outside of practice, his life was impregnated with rugby, which made Noélie Michallet say: “Rugby is a bit the cause of its death in my eyes.”

In the clubs I played with Jordan, I always heard about players who weren’t doing well.

A reflection matured by experiences lived through the career of her husband, who called her his “mental coach”. “Them (players among themselves)they don’t tell each other when they are not well. We see what our husbands are like and we tell each other. In the clubs I went to with Jordan (he played in Voiron, Grenoble, Bourgoin then Strasbourg and Rouen)I always heard about players who weren’t doing well. So, I knew there were problems, but seeing all these people writing to me makes me realize that this is a fairly widespread phenomenon.”

Noélie’s story has encouraged players and players’ wives to contact her about issues they are experiencing: “Many players’ wives, around sixty over the past three years, write to me on social networks. They tell me: “My husband is depressed, I don’t recognize him anymore, what do you advise me to do?” In secret, they say to themselves that what my husband did, theirs could do too. It’s good for them to have an outside perspective, I think.”

The National Rugby League took up this subject two years ago, by setting up a telephone hotline and by joining forces with the Neohero organization founded by Raphaël Poulain.