French Racial Quotas Investigated

[Macmoish]

BBC

French football body to investigate 'race quota' claim

France's football federation (FFF) is to hold an internal inquiry into claims its officials backed a secret racial quota for trainees.

Top FFF members are said to have secretly approved limiting the number of black and Arab trainees to 30% from the age of 12-13.

France's Sports Minister, Chantal Jouanno, asked the body to respond to allegations made by journalists.

FFF head Fernand Duchaussoy denied any such quota had been agreed.

Ms Jouanno promised to uphold guarantees of equal opportunities in sport.

"Discrimination has no place in sport, whether it's in the stands or in the training academies," she added.

Race became a sensitive issue in French football again after the dire performance of the national team at last year's World Cup in South Africa.

Controversial accusations circled in some quarters that the team, which had six black players, had mutinied in South Africa because of race.

The South Africa experience was in sharp contrast to 1998, when France fell head over heels in love with its multi-ethnic World Cup-winning team of "Blacks, Blancs, Beurs" - blacks, whites and Arabs.

'Segregation'

The French investigative website Mediapart broke the story about a supposed secret quota on Thursday.

Continue reading the main story
“
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It's a lie to say that the France coach was involved”
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Laurent Blanc

France coach
Quoting "scandalised" sources within the FFF, it said the alleged directive from its National Technical Direction (DTN) had already been sent out to training academies.

Mediapart alleged that senior FFF members including national coach Laurent Blanc had approved the quota.

"The objective declared within the DTN, but undisclosable to the general public, is to limit - by filtering them right from the age of 12-13 - the number of French players of African and North African kind," the website said.

"A genuine segregation applied to football."

Commenting on the allegations, the sports minister said: "I take note of the French Football Federation's denial about the existence of such a policy and I invite it to very quickly shed light on the allegations in the article".

Blanc denial

Laurent Blanc strongly denied any plans for an ethnic quota.

"There is no plan to introduce quotas," he said in Bordeaux on Friday. "It's a lie to say that the France coach was involved."

He added that he had attended a meeting with federation officials in November but that the main item on the agenda was to "define a style of play and a training programme aimed at having the best results in five years".

Since he took over from Raymond Domenech after the World Cup, Blanc has often raised the problem of players with dual nationality, who benefit from French training academies before choosing to play for another country, the Associated Press news agency reports.

In Paris, Mr Duchaussoy denied "instructions, orders" about a quota had been given by the FFF.

"But then, in an informal discussion... I cannot be everywhere," he told reporters.

"There will be an investigation. What happened in a meeting, behind a door or in the corridors... I cannot vouch for everyone working at the federation. But I am confident [that there was no wrongdoing]."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13236864

[Macmoish]

Guardian

Director of football is suspended as France race row escalates

• French government acts over dispute
• Further claims about meeting are revealed

* Jamie Jackson * The Observer, Sunday 1 May 2011

It has been reported that senior figures within the French federation, including Laurent Blanc, approved proposals to limit to 30% the number of players of African and North-African descent. Photograph: Regis Duvignau/Reuters

The national technical director of the French Football Federation, François Blaquart, has been suspended by the French government as the fallout over an alleged plan to enforce racial quotas in youth academies continues to spread.

Chantal Jouanno, France's sports minister, said Blaquart was suspended with immediate effect "pending the conclusions of an investigation led by the FFF and the IGJS [General Inspection of Youth and Sports]".

The story, which emerged on Thursday from the French investigative website Mediapart, cited sources within the FFF claiming Blaquart proposed limiting the number of non-white children entering the selection process through training centres and academies.

On Saturday Mediapart published further claims about a meeting at which Blaquart, the France coach, Laurent Blanc, the under-21 coach, Erick Mombaerts, and the under-20 coach, Francis Smerecki, among others, allegedly debated African players with dual nationality who were groomed in France but opted to play for their country of origin.

"We can mark out, in an unspoken way, a sort of quota. But it needs to remain unspoken," Blaquart was quoted as saying by Mediapart. Blaquart told RMC radio's website : "I cannot not acknowledge these remarks. But they have to be put in their context. We acknowledged the fact that there were many players with dual nationality ... we had to control the management of these players who might be leaving us. There is nothing more to it."

Blanc, who played in the 1998 World Cup-winning team that was dubbed "Black-Blanc-Beur" (Blacks, Whites and Arabs) by French media, has often raised the issue of dual nationality players, but rejected the claim he was in favour of quotas based on race. On Friday he said: "No such project has been revealed to me. It's a lie. You cannot have quotas in football. It does not exist. Football is made of diversity. It really bothers me because it's against my values. To me, this is totally false."

Last night Blanc said in a statement: "I do not withdraw what I said yesterday. I admit that some remarks made during a work meeting, taken out of their context, may be misinterpreted and, as far as I am concerned, I apologise if I have hurt some feelings. But I, who am against any form of discrimination, do not stand being accused of racism or xenophobia."

Blanc said there was nothing more to the meeting that took place last November. "One has to be insincere not to see that the debate I took part in had obviously nothing to do with 'reducing the number of blacks and Arabs in French football' as the article's headline said," he added.

The only question was to "discuss the future of French football and deal with the delicate problem of players with dual nationality..."

The FFF president, Fernand Duchaussoy, has also denied any such project existed. "What happened in a meeting, behind a door or in the corridors... I cannot vouch for everyone working at the federation. But I am confident [that there was no wrongdoing]," he said. The FFF's investigation into the claims is expected to be completed within eight days.


www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/01/france-football-race-row