'I leave with a heavy, broken heart... but my blood is and will always be a little pink'
Djibril Camara has penned an emotional open letter to Stade Francais fans after his stint at the club was ended by dismissal for alleged serious misconduct.
The 29-year-old back, capped four times by France, fellow foul of the club during the season and after it was confirmed he would not be returning, he decided to address the Parisian team’s supporters via social media.
“There, it’s finished,” he wrote. “Sometimes destiny, or the chance of life, makes one have to leave dear people. Essential people, people who gave us a lot.
“You, the supporters of Stade Francais, count among those. This message of goodbye is the expression of my deep emotion, of my gratitude. Stade Francais was, for me, much more than a club. It was my family, my pedestal, my desire to surpass myself. Here, I lived exceptional moments, I grew up and built my life as a man.
“I arrived at the age of 13 through my friend Jeremy Fumey. I was still a child. In 2006, with a fabulous generation, we were French junior champions. In my head, there are still mages of joy, happiness and joy. It was the time of carelessness.
L'ancien joueur du Stade français, @camaradjibril4, s'adresse aux supporters ?https://t.co/9bj6Zp4ruA
— RUGBYRAMA (@RugbyramaFR) June 19, 2019
“I had the chance to go with the under-18 team, to enter the Stade Francais training centre and sign my first professional contract. I was only 18 years old and my head was full of dreams. These dreams, I partly accomplished them.
“I obviously want to thank Max Guazzini without whom nothing would have been possible. What a president he was!
“I still remember my first try for the professional team. It was against Dax. It was yesterday. I treasure every day the chance I had to wear this jersey with players like Christophe Dominici, Julien Dupuy, Mathieu Bastareaud, Juan Hernandez, Antoine Burban, Sergio Parisse, Sylvain Marconnet, David Auradou, Nani Corletto and many others. It’s hard to mention them all…
“At the moment of leaving, I also have an emotional thought for Thomas Savare and Pierre Arnald. They have been much criticised, but I can assure you that they have always been kind to me as with the club.
“The title of champion of France in 2015 will forever be engraved in my memory. Just like the European title in 2017. Thanks to you Gonzalo (Queseda) for having taken the trouble to understand me and to have made the best of myself.
“I would have loved to follow the footsteps of Pierre Rabadan and make my career at Stade Francais. Alas, it is not possible.
“Another adventure opens before me. We’ll see each other soon here and there, on a pitch or somewhere else. I leave with a heavy, broken heart. But my blood is and will always be a little pink.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments