The saying goes that bad luck never comes alone. This is somewhat the case for the French rugby team, this Friday, September 1. After a new blow with the injury of Paul Willemse, one week before the start of the World Cup (September 8-October 28), the controversy arises with the call of Montpellier player Bastien Chalureau (31 years old, four selections ), reports the Dépêche du Midi.
Because the latter, who is now one of the 33 players selected to compete in the competition, is not unanimous among some fans. The reason ? His conviction for “racist assault”, for which he received a six-month suspended prison sentence.
In January 2020, he was one of the protagonists of a fight which took place in the Jean-Jaurés car park, in Toulouse. Nassim Arif and Yannick Larguet, also rugby players, also took part in the altercation. The latter had also delivered his version of the facts in the columns of the regional daily. As he descended into that parking lot, he heard someone yell, “How are you googlings?” “.
“I turned around and saw a big guy walking through the Jean-Jaurès alleys with a buddy. I asked if he was talking to me. He continued his racial slurs over and over,” he said. Bastien Chalureau then punches him. “I was in a fog. And during that time, he hit my boyfriend. He was hysterical, enraged. »
If at first he does not know who he is dealing with, he hears his attacker’s friends call him “Chalu”. “I recognized him later on the Stade Toulousain website,” he continued. The player was then dismissed from his club.
The principal concerned has never refuted the acts of violence, but he has always firmly contested the accusations of racism, appealing his sanction.
After the announcement of his arrival among the Blues, the supporters quickly expressed their dissatisfaction.
: beacon: In a few days, the Rugby World Cup begins and Bastien Chalureau will be on the list to represent the France team. As a reminder, he was sentenced to 6 months in prison prohibited from possessing a weapon for racist aggression: arrow_right_pointe_bas: pic.twitter.com/kBomG2Nu2T
Ah, if France is world champion, maybe Bastien Chalureau can ask far-right rapper Millésime K to do a little Vegedream-style song. He seems to know him well, he follows him on Instagram and he likes his posts. https://t.co/XZOv6x70Il
François Piquemal, insubordinate France deputy from Toulouse, also denounced this choice and announced “to challenge the Minister of Sports on the subject”.
Thought for the rugby players Yannick Larguet and Nassim Arif victims of a racist and violent attack by B. Chalureau in 2020 in
Thomas Portes, LFI deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis, was also indignant at this selection. “Rather than selecting a man who made racist remarks, let’s pay tribute to Federico Martín Aramburú killed by racists!” “, he posted on X (ex-Twitter), referring to the ex-Argentine rugby player, killed in April 2022 in Paris in an altercation with Loïk Le Priol, a figure of the violent far right.
Faced with the decision to call
France begin their competition on Friday, September 8 against New Zealand at the Stade de France, before facing Uruguay on the 14th, at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium, in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, and Namibia on the 21st, at the Velodrome, in Marseilles.
