Yannick Larguet persists and signs. “I kept quiet during the World Cup, even though I was extremely busy. The World Cup in France is an incredible opportunity, supporting and preserving the French team was my priority. I also tried to protect my family. But now, it’s no longer possible,” said the 43-year-old former rugby player, in an interview with the newspaper L’Équipe. Reminder of the facts: on January 31, 2020, Larguet and the man named Nassim Arif were attacked by Bastien Chalureau, at the time a player for Stade Toulouse, today in Montpellier, and member of the XV of France during the last Cup of the world. The person concerned was sentenced to six months in prison for violence and racist insults at first instance. The prosecution requested an eight-month suspended sentence on November 14.
Chalureau denies the accusations of racism. “The blow hurt me, but it hurt a hundred times less than the insult. But the insult… I had just lost my mother, my black mother… I said to myself, “You can’t let this go,” also thinking about the future of my children. (…) It’s a serious subject and I’m speaking out for myself, as well as all people of color and different cultures,” said Yannick Larguet, who refutes the idea of a fight.
Moreover, the young retiree assures that he “never encountered” his attacker during the evening in question. “When you get hit from behind when entering a parking lot, being called stupid, it’s not a fight. This is the most extreme cowardice. In a fight, there are two people facing each other who want to fight. Semantics are important. This is a motivated attack,” he says. And added: “I will go to the end. I am Franco-Gabonese, a black mother, a white father, brown with blue eyes, Nassim is Franco-Algerian, his father Algerian, his mother is white and blonde, we were raised in respect for others, in tolerance, openness to the world, to others, without blinders. Nassim is a business manager. So, the side of the drunks who fight is no, we are past the age,” he grumbles again. “Damn, at 40, being called a jerk…” he breathes, disillusioned.
Larguet also dismisses the idea that the management of Stade Toulouse tried to cover up the affair at the time. “I was shocked by the silence, the latent hypocrisy of the media, the authorities, and, finally, by the anachronistic and late side of the controversy,” he assures, not hiding that “racism exists in rugby. Ask the kids of color, some professionals.”
Champion of Fédérale 1 in 2008 with Colomiers, Larguet promises not to wish the career of Chalureau, aged 31, to an end. “I deeply believe in second chances,” he says. Except that the time has not yet come for forgiveness for the MHR player: “For the moment, I am not giving him this second chance, because he has not recognized the racist motive.” Next episode with the verdict. The decision was reserved until January 16.