conservatory layoff of general manager Claude Atcher

Rugby World Cup 2023 chief executive Claude Atcher has been laid off “as a precaution” and ” with immediate effect “announced Monday, August 29, the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.

At the end of June, a labor inspection investigation was launched after an article from the sports daily The Team detailing a “deep social malaise” within the GIP (public interest group) France 2023, the institution responsible for organizing the World Cup led by Mr. Atcher.

This decision, “for the time necessary to close the investigation”, was taken in consultation with the French Rugby Federation and the CNOSF (French National Olympic and Sports Committee). It comes after a report by the ethics committee which mentions the part of Atcher “alarming managerial practices altering the functioning of the structure and the state of suffering of a certain number of collaborators”.

Read also: 2023 Rugby World Cup: the labor inspectorate seized on the “social climate” at the organizing committee

“Analyze the existence of any shortcomings”

“Atcher will no longer be present or active, directly or indirectly, within, in the name and on behalf of the GIP during the period of layoff”, the ministry said in a statement. An exceptional board of directors will meet on Friday, adds the body, to “validate that the missions of the general manager will be carried out by Mr. Julien Collette, deputy general manager of the GIP”.

In an article by The Teamseveral employees of the organizing committee, former and current, denounced on condition of anonymity the “management by terror” set up by Atcher and his chief of staff within the GIP. The press release continues:

“A joint mission of the General Inspectorate of Finance and the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research is triggered by the State to, on the one hand, analyze the existence of possible breaches of economic and financial probity or conflicts of interest and, on the other hand, supporting the GIP in the organization of some of its strategic programs. »

The 2023 World Cup is scheduled in France from September 8 to October 28.

Read also: Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, close to Macron at the Ministry of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games

The World with AFP