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Kiwi rugby union legend Dan Carter sorry for drink-driving in Paris

New Zealand rugby union legend Dan Carter apologised for a "massive error in judgement" after French police stopped him for drink-driving in Paris.

Published: 17 February 2017 08:16 CET
Kiwi rugby union legend Dan Carter sorry for drink-driving in Paris
Photo: AFP
The two-time World Cup winner, who plays for defending French champions Racing 92, said there were no excuses for his behaviour and he was grateful no one was hurt.
   
“I made a massive error of judgment and have let down my club, my fans and most importantly my family,” the 34-year-old posted on Facebook.
   
“I will have to now let the police/court process run its course and face the consequences. I am just glad no one was harmed. Sorry.”
 
   
A Paris police source said Carter was tested at the roadside in the city's western 17th arrondissement on Wednesday night.
   
His alcohol level was measured at 0.8 grams per litre of blood, the source said, confirming a story which appeared in celebrity magazine Closer.
   
However, he was neither detained nor arrested, although he will be expected to attend a local police station.
  
With his alcohol level measured at just above the legal limit, Carter could be punished by a six-point penalty on his driving licence.
   
If the case goes to court, then a fine of €4,500 ($4,800, Ł3,845) or even a two-year jail sentence could be imposed.
   
Carter, a three-time World Player of the Year, is regarded as one of the sport's finest fly-halves and was a World Cup winner with the All Blacks in 2011 and 2015.
   
He is also the sport's record international points-scorer with 1,598 points in 112 games.
   
Carter began his second playing stint in France after the 2015 World Cup, but it hasn't been an entirely smooth ride.
   
After his man-of-the-match performance in the Top 14 final in June, he tested positive for corticosteroids, along with fellow former All Black Joe Rokocoko and Argentinian winger Juan Imhoff.
   
All three Racing players and the club were later cleared of all wrongdoing by a French Rugby Federation medical commission.
   
But the players have now been summoned to appear before the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) over the incident.
   
AFLD president Bruno Genevois told AFP last month that the dossier would be reviewed for a “possible revision of the decision” made by the FFR's medical commission.
   
FFR president Bernard Laporte has played down the significance of the summons, saying it didn't mean the decision would be reversed.
   
“It's not because they think there's a fault. On the contrary, the more transparency there is, the better,” he said.

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SPORT

French rugby in turmoil as FFR boss gets suspended sentence over corruption

Lawyers for FFR President Bernard Laporte said he was going to appeal against the court's verdict

Published: 14 December 2022 09:16 CET
French rugby in turmoil as FFR boss gets suspended sentence over corruption

French rugby was reeling Tuesday after the president of the country’s governing body Bernard Laporte was handed a two-year suspended prison sentence on corruption charges nine months before France hosts the game’s World Cup.

Fédération Française de Rugby (FFR) president Laporte, 58, was convicted after a French court ruled he showed favouritism in awarding a shirt sponsorship contract for the national side to Mohed Altrad, the billionaire owner of Top 14 champions Montpellier. He was also banned from holding any rugby post for two years. Both are suspended pending an appeal, which Laporte’s lawyer said was imminent.

Laporte later stepped down from his role as vice-chairman of the sport’s global governing body, World Rugby, pending a review by the body’s ethics officer.

“World Rugby notes the decision by World Rugby vice-chairman Bernard Laporte to self-suspend from all positions held within its governance structures with immediate effect following his conviction by the French court in relation to domestic matters, and pending his appeal,” World Rugby said.

“While acknowledging Laporte’s self-suspension and right of appeal, given the serious nature of the verdict World Rugby’s Executive Committee has referred the matter to its independent ethics officer for review in accordance with its integrity code,” it added.

Resignation call
Laporte faces problems on the domestic front, too, with Florian Grill, who narrowly lost to him in the 2020 election for federation chief, calling for Laporte and the entire board to stand down.

“It is unheard of in rugby, this is an earthquake,” Grill told AFP. “We have never before seen a president of the federation condemned to two
years in prison, even if it suspended.

“We think the 40 members of the board of directors should draw the obvious conclusions and resign.”

French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said the sentence was an “obstacle for Bernard Laporte to be able, as it stands, to continue his mission in good conditions” as federation president, and called for a “new democratic era to allow French rugby to rebound as quickly as possible and sufficiently healthy and solid, with a governance by the federation that will have the full confidence of the clubs”.

The court found that Laporte ensured a series of marketing decisions favourable to Altrad – who was given an 18-month suspended sentence and
€50,000 euro — in exchange for a €180,000 image licensing contract that was never actually carried out.

Altrad’s lawyer said he would study the decision before deciding on whether to appeal.

At the trial’s close in September, prosecutors said they were seeking a three-year prison sentence for Laporte, of which he should serve one behind bars, and the two others on probation.

The friendship and business links between Laporte and Altrad are at the heart of the case.

It goes back to February 2017, when they signed a deal under which Laporte agreed to appear at Altrad group conferences, and sold his image reproduction rights, in return for €180,000.

But while that sum was  paid to Laporte, prosecutors claim that he neveractually provided the services he signed up for.

Laporte did, however, make several public statements backing Altrad and, in March 2017, signed the €1.8 million deal with the businessman making his namesake firm the first-ever sponsor to appear on the French national team’s jerseys.

The Altrad name and logo still features on the shirts thanks to a follow-up deal negotiated by Laporte in 2018 and which prosecutors say bears all the hallmarks of corruption. It is also on the All Blacks’ national squads’ shirts, and New Zealand Rugby is reportedly seeking an urgent meeting with company officials following the court ruling.

Laporte, formerly a highly successful coach who guided France twice to the World Cup semi-finals (2003 and 2007), was also found guilty of favouritism
with regards to Altrad’s Montpellier Herault Rugby (MHR) club.

He was convicted for intervening with French rugby’s federal disciplinary commission to reduce a fine against the club from €70,000 to €20,000 after several telephone calls from Laporte.

While prosecutors saw this and several more incidents as proof of illicit favouritism, Laporte himself had claimed there was no “cause-effect relationship”.

On the last day of the trial in October, Laporte’s lawyer Fanny Colin accused the prosecution of “confirmation bias” by “taking into account only elements backing their original assumptions”.

The verdict comes only nine months before the Rugby World Cup kicks off in France on September 8, 2023, with matches played in nine stadiums across the country.

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