While French supporters still have this defeat in their throats, in an interview with Midi Olympique, the boss of international arbitration did not hesitate to target Antoine Dupont regarding the cyberharassment of Ben O’Keeffe.
“I don’t want to be angry and complain about the refereeing because he lost the match but I’m not sure that the refereeing was up to the level of the challenge” declared the captain of the Bruises after the meeting. For Joël Jutge, these comments only amplified the online hatred movements away from the New Zealand referee.
“As a referee manager, I cannot condone what Antoine Dupont said, because it gave rise to a terrible movement of abuse and hatred online towards Ben. But I know the man, and I have no doubt about his moral values and the way he perceives exchanges between referees and players. He is a huge champion and a good person that we respect, but I repeat, I do not condone what he said that day, even if we all know that he was under enormous pressure to return following his injury.” declared the Frenchman in charge of international referees.
