France’s second-tier rugby team has expelled one of its players for using racist words when referring to an opponent, according to information obtained by AFP on Wednesday.
Provence Rugby’s Ludovic Radosavljevic has been expelled from Aix-en-Provence, after admitting to using racist terms against a Nevers player.
On September 3, in the match between his team and Nevers (26-23), Radosavljevic quarreled with Chris Ambadyang from Cameroon. After the match, and without mentioning the opponent, the African player stated on social media that he was called “the banana eater”.
Three days later, 32-year-old Radosavljevic admitted that he used racist terms against the Cameroonian, which he himself considered “unacceptable”.
He concluded in a message posted on his Instagram account, “This is not part of my values or those that I pass on to my children, I am a human being who makes mistakes and learns from them.”
Prior to this chapter, Provence Rugby specified in a statement that he would “convene a meeting with the player to apply penalties proportionate to the gravity of the events.”
Radosavljevic was punished on September 16 by the disciplinary committee of the French Rugby Union with “a 26-week suspension from the official matches of the competition”.
According to the entity, the player was not subjected to a heavier penalty for “automatic fact recognition” and for not having previously committed any offence.
