Provence Rugby player Ludovic Radosavljevic, who admitted to making racist remarks against Cameroonian Nevers winger Christian Ambadiang during a Pro D2 rugby match, was suspended until April 2022.
The 32-year-old scrum-half, found responsible for “verbal offenses and provocations”, will not be able to play before April 25, 2022, ie after the 28th day of the championship.
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“Taking into account the particular gravity of the situation and the nature of the facts with which it is accused, the Disciplinary and Rules Commission determined the entry point of the offense at 52 weeks, ie the maximum sanction authorized”, explains the NRL.
This sanction was reduced to 26 weeks of official competition “after taking into account the spontaneous recognition by the player of the facts alleged against him (…), the recognition of his guilt, his clean disciplinary record and the expression remorse before the hearing “.
At the beginning of September, Ambadiang, 22, denounced on his Instagram account the incident that occurred during the 26-23 success of Provence Rugby in front of his team, on behalf of the 2nd day of Pro D2.
He accused an opposing player, without naming him, of having thrown at him: “I’m going to burn you, banana eater”, before coming to apologize later, saying that his words had been made “in the fire of the action”.
“The biggest mistake of my life”
The player in question, Radosavljevic, also publicly apologized on his Instagram account a few days later. “I realize that what happened today represents the biggest mistake of my life and I ask forgiveness from Christian Ambadiang, his club, my family, my teammates, my staff, my managers , club licensees, volunteers, all our supporters and club partners, “he wrote.
Former player of Clermont (2008-2017), where he was the understudy of Morgan Parra as scrum half, and of Castres (2017-2020), where he was in competition with the former French international Rory Kockott, Radosavljevic had already been laid off by his current club pending the decision of the disciplinary committee.
This is not the first time that rugby has been affected by racism. Last season, three Argentinian international players, including Pumas captain Pablo Matera, then at the Stade Français, authors in the past of xenophobic tweets, were thus suspended as a precaution.
The Argentinian Federation ended up doing an about-face, only forcing them to do awareness-raising sessions on discrimination and community service.
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