French faux pas? Gallic ruck over VIP rugby dinner
FRENCH rugby chiefs have sparked a diplomatic row by criticising the VIP dinner following the weekend’s Six Nations clash.
Ireland and France are going head to head with competiting bids to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
And the French media has taken aim at our ability to host the tournament.
“The French candidacy has nothing to envy to that of Ireland. The reception of our stadiums knows how to live up to the event, it does not rain in our official grandstand, and the airports of Paris do not saturate when the first match of the tournament comes. This is Dublin!” the French newspaper ‘Midi-Olympique’ reported yesterday.
The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) has described the criticism of the postmatch reception at the Aviva Stadium as “very disappointing”.
French Rugby Federation (FFR) secretary general Christian Dullin was quoted in ‘Midi-Olympique’ claiming his delegation was kept apart from its IRFU counterparts at the captain’s dinner following Ireland’s 19-9 victory on Saturday.
Mr Dullin said: “It’s like us hosting other unions at the snack bars under the stands at the Stade de France.
“I spoke to my Irish counterpart. Apparently, this was the first time they had implemented such a protocol.”
But IRFU director of communications Stephen McNamara said there was no division of the Irish and French committees and the post-match reception was run in exactly the same manner as previous Six Nations encounters.
He went on to say there was a four-course committee dinner on Friday night and a four-course lunch before the game took place.
Committee members did mingle with members of the public, including 10-year ticket holders, sponsors and volunteers, for an hour in a premium level bar after the game while the presidential suite was prepared for the captain’s dinner.
On the idea that the committees were separated, Mr McNamara said: “We would not tolerate that kind of thing.”
He said no one from the IRFU was approached on the night and the same structure for the post-match reception would be in place when England visit next month.
The IRFU is expected to follow up on the reports with its French counterparts.
Under the headline ‘The French Rejected’, Emmanuel Massicard wrote: “The beautiful Franco-Irish friendship seems to have run its course. The post-match reception turned to a fiasco in the President’s Suite of the Aviva Stadium. The (French) delegation was relegated to a crowded room of 500 people glued to bars while the Irish were installed in the presidential box.”
He added: “Bernard Laporte had to wait for the banquet to meet his counterpart Stephen Hilditch for a few moments, after remaining alone at his table without any other French leader to accompany him. (He was also left alone in the rain which showered the grandstand).”
The tensions between the rival bids were heightened as the French chose to use their jerseys to promote their bid.