A month ago, the former Argentine rugby player Fédérico Aramburu was shot dead in the middle of the street in the early morning, after an altercation in a bar. A violent attack in which the two main suspects are two far-right activists, former members of the GUD. This Tuesday, April 19, 2022, the world of rugby and more broadly the sports world pay tribute to him in a forum published by our colleagues from the Team and entitled “Dead because he defended his values”.
Essentially, the text recalls the values of the ovalie: integrity, passion, solidarity, discipline and respect. He signs up in opposition and denunciation of the extreme right. The main defendants are indeed former members of the GUD, a well-known union of the French extreme right. For the time being, Loïk Le Priol and Romain Bouvier have been indicted for murder and possession of weapons and imprisoned. A third person, a woman is indicted for complicity in murder. They all remain at this stage presumed innocent. Even if the racist, xenophobic or anti-Semitic character is not retained at this stage, the fact remains that according to several testimonies at the origin of the altercation between the two groups, there is the will of Fédérico Aramburu and his friend Shaun Hegarty to intervene and take up the defense of a man to whom far-right activists allegedly made xenophobic remarks. This is also what the forum recalls, Fédérico Aramburu is “Dead because he defended his values”.
The grandstand is signed by more than 500 athletes and in particular the world of rugby in the Ile-de-France region. Among the signatories there are in particular Dimitri Szarzerski, former French international, coach of Racing 92 (defense), Gonzalo Quesada, manager of the Stade Français, Thomas Lombard, general manager of the Stade Français, vice-president of the National Rugby League, Julien Arias, Stade Français coach (backs), Yannick Nyanga, sports director of Racing 92, David Auradou, former international, sports manager of RC Suresnes or even Pierre Rabadan, former French international and former captain of the French stadium.
We are all still in shock at what happened and I think we always will be – Pierre Rabadan
“We are all still in shock from what happened and I think we always will be” confides the former third line. “The violence that unleashed in the assassination of Federico echoes extremist ideas. Ultimately, this is also what we are facing in the second round of the presidential election” explains Pierre Rabadan. He adds : “As La Tribune says, it goes against what seems to be the basis of a sport that we have practiced or values that allow us to form a society and live properly together”.