Christophe Dominici, former rugby player, is dead

His last public appearance was on June 23. Black T-shirt, drawn features and hoarse voice, as always, Christophe Dominici harangues, microphone in hand, 300 supporters of AS Béziers Hérault at the entrance to the Mediterranean stadium. With the help of mysterious Emirati investors, the former international winger (67 caps between 1998 and 2007) is thinking big to wake up this sleeping giant of French rugby (11 Brennus Shields between 1961 and 1984) thanks to a five-star recruitment.

But the management of the Pro D2 club prefers another buyer. In reaction, Dominici charges the leaders of Béziers, the mayor of the city, Robert Ménard, or the president of the Occitania region, Carole Delga, in a fiery but confused monologue.

Both on his left wing and in life, Christophe Dominici was elusive, complex, tormented even by demons dating back to his adolescence and awakened by a glory in which he sometimes strayed.

On Tuesday, November 24, the 48-year-old former rugby player was found dead in the park of Saint-Cloud, near Paris. According to a judicial source, who confirmed the death of the player, a witness saw him throw himself from the top of an abandoned building and make a fatal fall of 10 meters.

A certain idea of ​​”French flair”

Before Frédéric Michalak and Sébastien Chabal, the child of Toulon was the first star of a French rugby freshly converted to professionalism. Peroxidized hair and too large blue jersey, Dominici was born in the eyes of the general public on October 31, 1999, in Twickenham, London, during the stunning victory against New Zealand in the semi-final of the World Cup (43-31) .

In two actions, the first bringing the test of “Titou” Lamaison and the other that he ends in the promised land after a favorable rebound, the winger with the ordinary physique (1.73 m, 81 kg) resuscitates a certain idea of “French flair”.

“Things were happening to me, I wasn’t thinking. I was there, I was fine, I was not aware of what was happening. We said it was a resounding achievement, but we didn’t win a title ”, he reminded the World, in 2003, in reference to the loss to Australia in the final.

By this time Dominici was already 27 years old and had a career as confusing as his hooks. Gifted with his feet, this son of florists from Solliès-Pont (Var) flirted with football for a time, like his father, a former goalkeeper, before being overtaken by the local tropism and registering his first attempts with RC Toulon, whom he left angry in 1997 after asking for a raise.

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