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LNR issue statement in wake of 'unacceptable' Melvyn Jaminet clip

Toulon's French fullback Melvyn Jaminet celebrates after winning the French Top 14 rugby union match between Rugby Club Toulonnais (Toulon) and Stade Toulousain Rugby (Toulouse) at the Velodrome Stadium in Marseille, south-eastern France on April 20, 2024. (Photo by CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images)

The Ligue Nationale de Rugby in France has condemned comments made by Toulon fullback Melvyn Jaminet in an accidentally released social media video over the weekend.

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On Sunday evening, the Fédération Française de Rugby (FFR) decided to suspend Jaminet from the France squad – who are currently touring South America – for alleged racist comments.

The issue came to light in the early evening of July 7 when a video of the international full-back making racist remarks was posted on the player’s official Instagram account. The video has since been deleted but continues to circulate widely on social media.

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    The video shows the apparently drunk RC Toulon full-back filming himself on a street at night speaking to the camera.

    In the video Jaminet can be heard saying: “I swear, the first Arab I see on the street… I will headbutt him… I will headbutt him… I say: I will headbutt him… Headbutt, I will…”

    The FFR statement on Sunday regarding the incident said: “The French Rugby Federation (FFR) strongly condemns the comments made by Melvyn Jaminet in a recent video posted on social media. Such comments are totally unacceptable and contrary to the fundamental values of our sport,” the statement read.

    As a result Jaminet was suspended with immediate effect and is leaving the French squad. An internal investigation is underway. The FFR reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to diversity, inclusion, and laïcité, emphasizing that discriminatory behavior has no place in French rugby.

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    Now the LNR have released a statement saying: ‘The National Rugby League firmly condemns the unacceptable comments made by Melvyn Jaminet. Rugby is a sport of togetherness that embodies values of respect, team spirit, altruism, and diversity.

    “The LNR relies on every professional rugby player to be an ambassador of this togetherness. The LNR awaits the result of the internal investigation conducted by the Federation and welcomes the decision of the FFR to immediately exclude him from the French team’s tour.”

    RC Toulon have also condemned the comments on social media: “Following the video posted on social media involving Melvyn Jaminet, RCT condemns and distances itself from the comments made. An internal investigation has been launched and the club will communicate more widely once this is complete.”

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    Comments

    1 Comment
    T
    Turlough 269 days ago

    In the video Jaminet can be heard saying: “I swear, the first Arab I see on the street… I will headbutt him… I will headbutt him… I say: I will headbutt him… Headbutt, I will…”

    Well done to the FFR for acting promptly on this. No BS excuses, no second chances: Jaminet should never play rugby for France again. There needs to be seen serious and unwavering consequences for racism in sport.

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    JW 56 minutes ago
    The raw data that proves Super Rugby Pacific is currently a cut above

    Your links are private if you were intending them to be shared.


    URC us doing very well with it’s competitiveness given that each group has it’s own salary caps and entirely different makeups, from clubs, to provinces, to franchises and regions. One group might be teams from the most populace country with the biggest rugby base while another the smallest, with the least amount of rugby players to chose from.

    On average, just about one SRP game every weekend has been decided in the last five minutes!

    I would also be interested in a average clock length (don’t need to go into the whole BIP hole) showing how long the last phases are taking (because one team is trying to still alter the match points outcome in some way) to complete before the game finally ends. I don’t know if its more common this year but in general I wonder if its a stat that can show how good games are/were?

    17.7%

    You really had the same reversed 10 points lead % as you had lead changes after the 75th?


    Some of these values while standing out numerically against each other have a much less correlative impact than some that tighter differences which might only stick out a small amount. While SRP’s ones might not necessarily be such examples (and here I’m still going off the basic principle that everyone knew this was happening, even though I was challenged about that assumption) they have had the advantage of the fixtures being were doctored even more than normal. In this instance its irrelevant whether they were doctored or not of course, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that there hasn’t been a lot of cross over of worst v best yet. Maybe it just feels like that because the worst are so much better this year? I definitely think that it is undeniable that all the bottom teams (that remain) have gotten better.


    So I would be very interested in another weight graph of the games still, but regardless I don’t think it’s fair for SRP to claim anything over the other leagues yet. Certainly as I have said numerous times about the Top 14, it’s sub par compared to what it’s billed up to be, but that is the only league in this group that has promotion and relegation, which is the antitheses of a competitive league, so a trade off there.


    Thank you very much for sharing your research though Dmitri, I hope you find another topic to get interested about!

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