His speech was expected. The second line of the XV of France Bastien Chalureau, caught in a controversy a few days before the start of the World Cup (from September 8 to October 28), assured Monday that he was “not racist”, again refuting the charges. The Montpellier player (31) was sentenced in 2020 by the Toulouse Criminal Court to a suspended six-month prison sentence for “acts of violence with the circumstance that these were committed because of race or ethnicity. ethnicity of the victim”. He appealed against this judgment.
“It doesn’t just affect me, it affects my family and that’s why I wanted to speak in front of you, to clarify the situation” ?? the emotion of Bastien Chalureau pic.twitter.com/yEwCXo2TLO
“What I can tell you is that I confessed my mistakes, I paid my debts and I deny any racial slurs,” the MHR international continued. “We discussed with the staff of the France team: they knew from the beginning, the procedure is old and known by many people. I wanted to speak in front of you to address all my teammates, my family… (he blows) It doesn’t just affect me,” he added before bursting into tears.
Chalureau was called up on Friday to replace injured club mate Paul Willemse. While the controversy swelled during the weekend, World Rugby, the supreme body of world rugby, also took a stand on Monday. “Racism has no place in rugby,” reacted general manager Alan Gilpin, while recalling that there was a judicial principle in France, that of the presumption of innocence.
