A clear victory. Florian Grill, 59, the outgoing president was elected this Saturday noon for a four-year term at the head of the French Rugby Federation. He obtained 67.22% of the votes against his opponent Didier Codorniou, 66 years old, who obtained 32.78% after the vote of the 1721 clubs authorized to participate in the ballot.
The parenthesis closed with a stormy campaign marked by low blows, small maneuvers, noisy and lackluster declarations. A campaign also weighed down by the disastrous affairs of Jaminet (racist remarks) and Auradou-Jegou (indicted for rape) during the XV of France’s tour in Argentina in July but also the tragic disappearance at sea on August 7 in South Africa of Medhi Narjissi, captain of the French under-18 team.
“The construction sites are enormous,” Florian Grill warned before the election. We are going to establish a Marshall plan of 20 million euros from which two hundred amateur clubs will benefit, work on respect for values, establish rules and sanctions. » For his part, Didier Codorniou had sighed just before ending his campaign: “At least, it will have allowed me to take the pulse of French rugby and I saw that amateur rugby was dying. » Despite the support, in the shadows, of Bernard Laporte, president of the FFR from December 2016 to January 2023, forced to resign after his conviction in first instance for a corruption pact with Mohed Altrad and of Serge Blanco, vice-president. president of the FFR between 2012 and 2016, the former three-quarter international center failed to attract support.
