“I never accused him of harassment”, defends the Minister of Sports – Liberation

New pass of arms in the FFF and Le Graët affair. Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra said on RTL on Wednesday that she had no “never accused of harassment” the resigning president of the French Football Federation (FFF) Noël Le Graët, who had announced, in an interview with several media, his intention to file a defamation complaint against her.

“I find it distressing, I never insulted anyone, I remained polite, I never accused him of harassment”she replied, recalling that a preliminary investigation had been opened for acts of moral and sexual harassment against the president of the “3F”.

“We did a thorough job over four months, respecting the contradictions of each of the parties”she said, adding that she “will not allow the quality of the work that has been done to be denigrated”. The lawyers of Noël Le Graët indeed wish to challenge the report of the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) which was delivered in mid-February.

“It is the prosecutor who has decided sovereignly to open an investigation for acts of moral and sexual harassment” on the basis of this inspection report, she recalled. Still according to the minister, “the mission [d’inspection] evokes remarks and text messages emanating from Mr. Le Graët, ambiguous for some and of a clearly sexual nature for others”.

“I never called him a stalker”, she insisted. While the president of the FFF claims to be the victim of a “politico-media cabal”Amélie Oudéa-Castéra believes that her “defense strategy does not fool many people”.

“Symptomatic of dysfunctions” of the FFF

Asked if he called him on Tuesday morning as he said in interviews and the conversation fell short, she referred to the conversation as “very short” more “in practice it was he who called me”.

The report, delivered on February 15 but never published in its entirety, pinpointed the management of the 81-year-old leader, who “no longer has the necessary legitimacy to administer and represent French football”, according to the inspectors. But for the Breton leader’s lawyer, the IGESR inspectors “were manipulated, forced by their minister”.

Regarding the sling that affects the French women’s football team and its coach Corinne Deacon, let go by three of the most emblematic players, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra underlined: “It is an answer that it is up to the French Football Federation to provide, it will also do it, they have given themselves a timetable”.

“This situation pains me a little because I think there is a lot of suffering on both sides, expressed in particular by the players and this great champion who is Wendie Renard and also that of Corinne Deacon who is a respected, respectable professional”further noted the minister.

She ultimately judged that the situation “is symptomatic of the dysfunctions of this federation, with insufficient listening, decisions taken in a very isolated and solitary way, insufficient debates, exchanges, collegiality which mean that we now find ourselves in this situation”.