Less than a year before the start of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, one of his figures was dismissed. Following the vote of an extraordinary board of directors, the organizing committee of the Rugby World Cup announced, Tuesday, October 11 in a press release, to have dismissed Claude Atcher, the director general of the World Cup to come.
Initially laid off as a precaution, due to “alarming managerial practices”Claude Atcher did not survive the conclusions of the labor inspection mission, requested by the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, following the publication in The Teamon June 22, of an investigation denouncing the deleterious social climate within the organizing committee.
Although the conclusions of the labor inspection report have not been made public, they corroborate those of the report of the ethics committee of the Public Interest Group (GIP) France 2023 – of which the French Rugby Federation is a member ( FFR), the State, and the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) -, submitted at the end of August.
denouncing “alarming managerial practices on the part of the general manager, altering the functioning of the structure, and the state of suffering of a certain number of collaborators”the Minister of Sports had suspended Claude Atcher as a precaution.
A commotion less than a year from the World Cup
Former professional player, former “substitute player” within the XV of France, the one who greatly participated in obtaining the 2007 and 2023 Rugby World Cups by France, and 2019 by Japan is also being prosecuted for “concealment of breach of trust”, “abuse corporate assets” and “concealed work by concealment of activity”. “I am one of the people who matter. Few people are able to deliver, from a blank sheet, such events »had swaggered Claude Atcher during his trial in mid-September, in which he appeared alongside the president of the FFR, Bernard Laporte, and several others “barons” tricolor oval.
And if the prosecutor has requested a year in prison against him, Claude Atcher has probably not finished his legal troubles. The General Inspectorate of Finance and the General Inspectorate of Higher Education and Research are jointly carrying out a mission aimed at “analyze the existence of any breaches of economic and financial probity or conflicts of interest” within the GIP. In particular, the use made by the former third line of the GIP bank card for personal expenses is studied, as well as the repeated use of a private driver, billed to the GIP, not limited to the strict professional field.
Claude Atcher and his ” know how ” will no longer be at the helm of what he considered “his World Cup” – according to his words, reported by The Team in June. Close to Bernard Laporte, he was ejected from his organization with immediate effect. The organizing committee of the World Cup having little time to lose, the tournament getting closer, its new organization chart was validated on Monday. Current interim CEO, Julien Collette succeeds Atcher while Martine Nemecek is appointed Deputy CEO. Less than a year from the start of the competition (from September 8 to October 28), and while the XV of France is surfing on a positive dynamic after its grand slam in 2022 in the Six Nations Tournament, French rugby would have well past an indistinct scrum, far from the pitch.