Opposition leader Florian Grill has been elected president of the French Rugby Federation and succeeds Alexandre Martinez, interim president since the resignation of Bernard Laporte, the FFR announced on Wednesday. Grill, who was opposed to Patrick Buisson, majority candidate, was chosen by 58.14% by some 1,900 French clubs and will be in office until the end of 2024. Electronic voting began on Monday for three days to appoint the new boss of French rugby less than three months before the World Cup (September 8-October 28).
The seat has indeed been vacant since the departure on January 27, during his second term, of the former strongman of the FFR, Bernard Laporte, after his two-year suspended prison sentence. He had been found guilty of entering into a “corruption pact” with businessman and Montpellier club president Mohed Altrad, a decision he challenged on appeal.
The opposition to Laporte within the steering committee of the Federation, embodied by the president of the League of Île-de-France Florian Grill, had then resigned en bloc. An interim president, the treasurer of the FFR Alexandre Martinez, was then appointed to manage day-to-day business. At the end of May, eleven of the twelve vacant seats (out of 40 in total) on the steering committee were won by the opposition list, which nevertheless still remains in the minority.