French rugby and Macron caught in racism storm days before hosting World Cup

Just four days before France host the opening match in the 2023 World Cup against New Zealand, the home team have been enveloped in a huge political storm involving their head coach Fabien Galthié and the country’s president Emmanuel Macron.

This follows the controversial selection of the Montpellier secondrow Bastien Chalureau in place of the injured Paul Willemse last week, with former captain Thierry Dusautoir deeply critical of the decision on Canal+ last Sunday.

Chalureau, then with Toulouse, was sentenced in 2020 to six months in prison for “acts of violence with the circumstance that these were committed because of the race or ethnicity of the victim.”

Although the six-times capped, 31-year-old lock has since appealed, the case has come back to the forefront after tweets from two politicians who protested against Chalureau’s selection last week.

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Speaking in front of the Canal+ TV cameras last Sunday, Dusautoir said: “I am a little embarrassed because I am a friend of the victim and I have a fairly strong opinion on this matter. I have always had a problem with him in the French team. Bastien Chalureau was selected in 2022. The facts precede his selection. I am surprised at the timing of this controversy, the facts were made public, but I was not present, there is a procedure. I am aware that I am not objective in this matter.”

The president of the FFR Florian Grill also reacted to this embarrassing controversy by stating “acts of racism have no place in rugby”, before specifying that Chalureau denied “acts of racism and is appealing. We are therefore letting justice take its course.”

President Macron visited the French squad at their base in Rueil-Malmaison on Monday and after addressing the players had a discussion with Galthie which the two clearly presumed to be private, but was recorded on an overhead microphone as well as being filmed, and has been widely reported on French websites.

In advance of Chalureau speaking to the media in the evening at 6pm French time, and discussing the controversy surrounding his selection, president Macron said: “Well, we must not indulge in controversies.”

“We went out yesterday,” responded Galthie, in reference to his press conference the previous evening alongside his captain Antoine Dupont. “Bastien has to go out this evening. Let him be himself. If he has to cry, he has to cry. He has to say things.”

Realising that the journalists present were overhearing the discussion, the two men then walked away to continue their exchange.

The former French head Philippe Saint-André, who guided Les Bleus from 2011 to 2015, has coached Chalureau at Montpellier and questioned the timing of the politicians’ tweets.

“What annoys me a lot is the timing. Chalureau, his first selection dates back to November 12th, 2022. If there was a problem, why didn’t we come at that time. Then, there had an announcement of a list of 42 players in June. If there was a Chalureau problem, why did these people not come in June?

“Here we are trying to destabilise the French team five days from a World Cup. Fabien Galthié and his men will have to take out New Zealand, win over the Irish, take out South Africa ... And we are taking a stab at our policies five days before a competition.

“Now, yes, there is a Chalureau fact, I know it because I picked him up in Montpellier when he had been excluded from Toulouse. We know that there was a problem, that he had a past, he appealed. But what I don’t like is the timing. There, we need to unite behind the French team.”

Ironically, in his preceding address to the squad, president Macron had said that 67 million French people would be behind them.

“Thank you very much for welcoming me among you. I don’t forget the moment we spent a few months ago when you were getting ready. I wanted to be among you because Friday begins an important meeting.

“I am not here to put pressure on you, you do not need anyone for that. You have everyone behind you at home. It is an incredible opportunity for a generation to participate in a World Cup at home.

“It’s an opportunity, a privilege but also the duties that go with it. You are at home with 67 million French people behind you. You are the best prepared team in the world. For four years you have had a coach, a team, a staff who has been with you. There are adjustments to be made each time. It’s your job, but there’s no doubt about it.”

Thomas Portes, the deputy leader of La France Insoumise (a left-wing populist political party in France) called on Galthié to drop Chalureau and said he would contact the French sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra to that end.

But the minister said that “pending the final court decision, everyone must let justice do its job, respecting the presumption of innocence.” She had also spoken with Florian Grill, president of the FFR and with the team’s manager Raphael Ibanez, adding in a statement from the ministry sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP): “The player maintains his version of the facts and still formally denies having made racist remarks, which is why he proceeded to this appeal.”

At his ensuing press conference, Chalureau said: “I am not racist. Since the first day, I have admitted my mistakes, I have paid my debts with violence. I deny racist remarks. I am not racist.

“I questioned myself. I made mistakes, I went before the judge, I was convicted of violence, I paid. After all that I questioned myself in terms of rugby. I arrived in Montpellier, I had to earn my place.”

At this point, Chalureau burst into tears before addressing whether he and the management had discussed him leaving the squad.

“I wanted to express myself. It affects my family, and that’s why that I wanted to speak in front of you. I wanted to clarify this in front of you, I am not a racist but a unifier. The beauty of sport is the diversity of its community.”