More than ten days after the cruel one-point defeat of the French XV against South Africa in the quarter-finals of the World Cup (28-29), the wound remains raw for many lovers of the oval in France. With, at the heart of the resentments, the arbitration of Ben O’Keeffe, who became the perfect scapegoat for this setback due to several decisions unfavorable to Fabien Galthié’s men. Hence, every day, its share of legitimate criticism, but also insults and totally illegitimate and inappropriate threats.
To try to put an end to it, even if social networks often remain impervious to this type of call for calm, Florian Grill, the president of the French Rugby Federation, published a press release on Facebook whose title is intended to be clear. , and written in capital letters to add a little more strength and conviction: “DEFENDING REFEREES AND RESPECT IS DEFENDING RUGBY!”
In the rest of the message, the leader of French rugby says: “You all love rugby and you are right. If I allow myself to address you it is for an essential point. If we have to fight for France to have influence within World Rugby, we must put an end to negative comments about referees. Firstly because the referee is, like a player, fallible. Then because we have 2700 referees in France and we would need 3300 to cover all the matches. Accepting that people say bad things about referees, opening this Pandora’s box, means taking the risk of no longer having them, because they will no longer go on the field.
And Florian Grill concludes his message by referring to the traditional values of the oval: “Moreover, learning respect is the first reason that pushes parents to enroll their children in rugby schools. Even if we are sad and even in mourning, we must preserve our referees and refereeing in general and defend respect as our primary value. Finally, only talking about the referee prevents us from analyzing the reality of the match with lucidity. If you are like me convinced of all this, despite the sadness of our defeat, do not hesitate to comment on the subject. Defending referees and respect, even in our disappointment, is defending rugby.” We will now see if this is enough to appease the resentment of certain fans.
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