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After the tragedy that left a teenager quadriplegic during a UNSS match, school rugby matches are suspended. What should we think ? Does zero risk exist in sport? Doctissimo takes stock.
On December 18, Mathias Dantin, a 17-year-old teenager, was seriously injured during a rugby match. Emergency operated at the University Hospital of Toulouse, he is now quadriplegic. Therefore, the National Union of School Sport (UNSS) decided to suspend rugby matches everywhere in France. A scandal according to members of the National Union of Physical Education.
More competitive school rugby
On December 16, the Bagnerais stadium, where the young man played, broadcast the terrible news on Twitter.
“Our young Stadiste Mathias Dantin, 17, was seriously injured this Wednesday during a UNSS rugby match. Mathias fell badly after a tackle. He underwent emergency surgery in Toulouse. His condition is very worrying. The #FamilleSB wishes you strength and courage Mathias.”
A support kitty has been launched.
Since then, it’s been the commotion in the world of rugby.
On the day of the accident, the French School Sports Federation for secondary education decided to stop competitive rugby, everywhere in France, within the framework of the UNSS.
A decision that made the members of the National Union of Physical Education, affiliated with the FSU, scream.
“Suspend ‘until further notice’, the practice of rugby in all its forms within sports associations as in UNSS meetings is incomprehensible“, writes the union. “You are thus casting doubt on the professional skills of PE teachers and undermining the trust placed in them by head teachers, IA-IPR (inspectors, editor’s note), parents and students.“, they continue.
An overall penalty for the discipline, which Frédéric Michalak regrets:
“It’s a real tragedy what just happened: a child finds himself handicapped overnight. But it is the system itself that must be re-examined rather than penalizing an entire discipline. We must continue to train rugby professionals as well as possible while supporting the development of this sport..”
Accidents are increasing in the middle of French rugby
This decision comes following a multiplication of concussions (a category of head trauma) in the middle.
And for good reason: in recent years, rugby has tended to become a more physical and fast-paced game – hence the increasing number of clashes between players.
Faced with this scourge, around twenty professional players have decided to attack the French Rugby Federation (FFR) and the National Rugby League (LNR) in order to alert the general public to the risks and precautions to be taken in this sport.
But for his part, Benoit Hubert, secretary general of SNEP-FSU, wants to be reassuring: “The safeguards are strict in this discipline“, he assured the microphone of Europe 1.
It remains to be seen whether this argument will convince the mixed national commission, made up of teachers, experts from the French Rugby Federation (FFR) and members of the UNSS, which met this Wednesday to consider the conditions for a resumption of matches.