{"id":328687,"date":"2023-09-05T03:20:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T03:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=328687"},"modified":"2023-09-05T22:03:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T22:03:07","slug":"under-fire-stars-teary-plea-as-controversy-rocks-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=328687","title":{"rendered":"Under-fire star's teary plea as controversy rocks France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Only days before the Rugby World Cup<\/a> starts in France, the home team's preparations for the tournament have been disrupted by calls to remove one of its players because of a historic racism charge.<\/p>\n

The controversy started over the weekend after injured lock Paul Willemse was replaced in France\u2019s<\/a> 33-man squad by Bastien Chalureau.<\/p>\n

Chalureau\u2019s inclusion was immediately questioned by several left-wing French lawmakers, who said they will ask Sports Minister Am\u00e9lie Oud\u00e9a-Cast\u00e9ra to intervene and make sure the player would not be selected because of a sentencing back in 2020 for racially motivated acts of violence.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD from September 9<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

At the time, Chalureau was tried for an assault on two rugby players, Yannick Larguet and Nassim Arif.<\/p>\n

Although he admitted to the violence, Chalureau denied the racist nature of the attack and has appealed the six-month suspended prison sentence he was handed.<\/p>\n

\"Bastien<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got all kinds of stories where I\u2019ve been a jerk, that I accept. But racist? Never,\u201d he told L\u2019Equipe newspaper last year.<\/p>\n

Oud\u00e9a-Cast\u00e9ra insisted on Tuesday (AEST) that since Chalureau appealed the ruling and there has not been a final conviction he should benefit from a presumption of innocence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not asking for his exclusion,\u201d she said in an interview with Sud Radio. \u201cViolence is obviously always a problem, and the racist dimension is unacceptable.<\/p>\n

"But the player has appealed precisely because he denies the racist dimension of the remarks made. It\u2019s up to the courts to decide. It\u2019s important that they can do their job calmly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bastien<\/p>\n

World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin later told a press conference "there is absolutely no place for discrimination of any form in rugby, and certainly racism."<\/p>\n

Gilpin, however, stopped short of asking for sanctions against Chalureau.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to respect the legal process," he said. \u201cPresumption of innocence continues because of the appeal that is taking place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Montpellier lock made his debut last November, coming off the bench against South Africa. He played in three of France\u2019s four warmup games in August.<\/p>\n

Recalling the attack, Larguet told newspaper La Depeche du Midi that Chalureau hurled repeated racist insults in a Toulouse street, then punched him in the jaw before hitting his friend, too.<\/p>\n

\"France's<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing would have been for (coach) Fabien Galthi\u00e9 not to call him up to the French team,\u201d French lawmaker Thomas Portes told RMC radio.<\/p>\n

"With my fellow MP Fran\u00e7ois Piquemal, we\u2019re going to ask the sports minister to intervene and ask the French team not to select him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the controversy, France captain Antoine Dupont said it has not affected the team, which opens the tournament against three-time champion New Zealand on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were aware of the story and there is still a live court case, I believe,\u201d he said. \u201cBut with us, Bastien has been exemplary, on and off the field. Our main concern is what happens on the field and Bastien prepares perfectly as far as we are concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galthi\u00e9 said Chalureau had informed the staff about his case, denying accusations.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1698559213213982848<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFor four years, racism has had no place in our team, it has no place in rugby,\u201d said Galthi\u00e9, who was appointed head coach after the 2019 World Cup. Integrity is a fundamental value of our team and our sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recalling the killing last year of former Argentina rugby player Federico Martin Aramburu in Paris by suspected far-right extremists, Portes said he is worried by the growing number of racist incidents in rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake a look at the lower divisions, where there have been a number of incidents, and racist insults on the field over the last few months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo send out a signal by saying that you can be a member of the French team, wearing the jersey of the French team, when you\u2019ve been convicted of racist remarks, is absolutely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Montpellier player, Mohamed Haouas, is missing the Rugby World Cup after he was convicted of domestic violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only days before the Rugby World Cup starts in France, the home team's preparations for the tournament have been disrupted by calls to remove one […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":328689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328687"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=328687"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328693,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328687\/revisions\/328693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/328689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=328687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=328687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}