The president of the “rouge et noir” club spoke this Wednesday, September 11, during a back-to-school press conference. Moved, he returned to the drama that affected Toulouse player Medhi Narjissi and his family, but also the wife of former player and staff member Joe Tekori.
Not without emotion, Didier Lacroix spoke, on Wednesday, September 11, about several painful episodes that recently hit his team and his institution.
The president of Stade Tolousain invited journalists to a press conference on the return of the school. Quick in his remarks, he wanted to emphasize the very paradoxical feelings that marked the last few weeks. There was the euphoria of many successes, the Champions Cup title, then the Top 14. There was also the joy of seeing one of the club's stars, Antoine Dupont, win Olympic gold during the Games with the French rugby sevens team.
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Periods of immense joy that occur almost in conjunction with very painful passages. “I experienced absolute drama,” he began. “We had the heartache of losing Helen Tekori a week after the end of the season.”
Helen Tekori was the wife of Joe Tekori, former Stade player, now Espoirs coach. His wife died suddenly on the night of July 6-7, she was only 44 years old.
Then Didier Lacroix mentioned the painful disappearance of Medhi Narjissi, the young hope of the club. With great modesty and restraint, because the pain at the club is great, pausing before expressing himself. “In your opinion, what should my role be? We will demand full transparency. We can become a civil party to help the family. This disappearance may lead to certain responsibilities.”
He continued: “We just want to know what happened. To support the family. Our role is to support the families, the players who were there. We have to honor Medhi in the best way. We were not in South Africa, I trust the justice system.”
Didier Lacroix also wanted to thank the Toulouse University Hospital teams who came to help the club's staff overcome the ordeal.
The memories of Helen Tekori and Medhi Narjassi will be honored this Sunday, September 15, at Ernest-Wallon, ahead of the Top 14 match with La Rochelle. Stade Toulousein especially invited the family of the youngster (17 years old), but also former teammates and managers.