Death of Medhi Narjissi: his parents accuse the Federation

A few weeks after the disappearance of their son, the parents of French rugby player Medhi Narjissi, a 17-year-old player for Stade Toulousain trained in Agen, are still in shock. They give a poignant testimony and hold the French Rugby Federation (FFR) responsible for what happened at the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa, on August 7.

Medhi Narjissi’s parents are having a hard time grieving. Carried away by the strong currents at Diaz Beach, near the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa on August 7 while the players were in a recovery session, the young Stade Toulousain player has not given any sign of life and his body has never been found. Until now, the intensive searches set up by the local authorities have proved fruitless. After hours of questioning at the Agen police station, Jalil, the French rugby player’s father, Valérie, his mother and Inès Narjissi, his older sister, spoke out for the first time on the case at a press conference. They expressed their disappointment. “Every morning, we survive, all three of us. It’s unspeakable the pain you can have when you lose a child. And it should never have happened, especially not in these conditions,” says Valérie. Her husband confided: “It was 5:59 p.m. when he (Florian Grill, the president of the French Rugby Federation, editor’s note) said that an accident had happened and that Medhi had been swept away by a wave. And then everything stopped.”