Lilian Thuram quits French Football Federation

A sad day for French football after one of its most eloquent and frank spokesmen quits the sport's governing body here, la Fédération Française de Football (the French Football Federation, FFF).

Lilian Thuram (screenshot from TF1 after France's World Cup debacle)

The FFF's interim president Fernand Duchaussoy confirmed on Wednesday that Lilian Thuram had handed in his resignation after just two years as a council member saying that the former international hadn't felt particularly happy in a purely administrative role.

"He has wanted to leave the council for a couple of months now," Duchaussoy told RTL national radio

"He told me he still wanted to work with the FFF but in an area in which he excels and enjoys, namely in a 'social role'."

Although he hasn't yet spoken publicly about the reasons for his departure, the writing has been on the proverbial wall since France's World Cup fiasco in South Africa.

Of that now infamous strike he said that it had "awakened the underlying racism in society" and said the then-captain, Patrice Evra, should never play for France again.

He warned at the time that, "If there are no sanctions, I shall resign."

And he hasn't shied away from criticising some of the decisions made by the recently-appointed coach of the national side, Laurent Blanc.

Thuram is France's most-capped international player and was of course a member, along with Blanc, of the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winning sides.

The 38-year-old played at the highest club level in France, Italy and Spain, before being forced to "hang up his boots" two years ago after a health scare.

He has long been politically and socially active particularly in campaigning against racism in football and became a member of France's Haut Conseil à l'intégration (High Council for Integration) while still a top defender.

Among his many activities he currently serves on the board of the L'Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques. and in October was appointed as a Unicef ambassador to Haïti

Most famously perhaps back in November 2005 in response to the then-interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy's description of youngsters after they burned cars and attacked police and public buildings in two weeks of rioting in various parts of France Thuram said, "If they are scum, then so am I."

Ambassadeur De L'Unicef: Lilian Thuram - Funny blooper videos are here

French TV journalist puts colleague in place over death penalty comment

It was a TV moment to treasure, but one many will surely have missed, as a journalist on the all-news French digital channel i>Télé put a colleague firmly in place about his opinions on the death penalty.

i>Télé presenter Julian Bugier (screenshot from Le Post video on Dailymotion)

The two men in question were the co-presenter of the early evening show, Julian Bugier, and Robert Ménard, a columnist on the channel.

And the clear difference in opinion came just after a report on the trial of Thierry Devé-Oglou.

He was the man accused of the brutal murder and attempted rape in 2007 of 23-year-old Anne-Lorraine Schmitt.

On Wednesday a court found Devé-Oglou guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment of which he has to serve at least 22 years, the maximum penalty for a crime of such a nature here in France.

Ménard, the founder of the French-based international non-governmental organisation Reporters sans frontières (Reporters without borders) took a moment at the end of the report to repeat the sort of comment he has made over the years on different occasions; namely his support for the death penalty.


"Julian, we have to regret sometimes that we no longer have the death penalty," Ménard said, bringing about an immediate response from Bugier that he didn't agree.

"Yes, but all the same..." began Ménard, who was quickly interrupted by the presenter who told him, "Nothing justifies the taking of life as far as I'm concerned. Thank you Robert."

Short, sweet and to the point. Exactly how it should be.

Bravo Julian Bugier.

And once again shame on you Robert Ménard, whose organisation (RSF) that fights for press freedom, currently carries an advertisement at the top of its site for Poster for tomorrow that reads "Death is not justice".

Capital punishment was abolished in France in 1981.


Quand Ménard regrette l'abolition de la peine de mort...
envoyé par LePostfr. - L'info video en direct.

Brrr and baa - the tale of Moïse the sheep's rescue

It has been cold here in France recently, just as it has throughout much of Europe.

Many parts of the country are bracing themselves for more snow on Thursday with daytime temperatures hovering around zero degrees Celsius or barely creeping above.

So what's needed perhaps is a cheerful animal tale guaranteed to warm the cockles of the heart is nothing else.

And here's one concerning a sheep named "Moïse" (or Moses in English) - a not entirely inappropriate name she was given (as will become clearer as you continue reading) following her "little adventure".

Image from Wikipedia, author Andreas Cappell from Erlangen, Germany

Moïse usually does her "ruminating" in the fields just outside the town of Bar-sur-Aube in eastern France.

Now sheep, you'll probably agree, are not blessed with the reputation of being the smartest of creatures when it comes to thinking for themselves.

In fact it could be fair to say that they're pretty low down on the IQ scale of things, with a strong instinct to "follow the leader" and go where the food is.

And if there's no fellow flock member around to follow then what is a sheep to do but stay put?

That's exactly what happened to Moïse who proved herself to be the quintessential ewe when she became separated from the rest of the flock by a couple of dogs at the weekend.

According to the regional newspaper, Libération Champagne, Moïse took refuge on a little island surrounded by shallow water in the middle of a field.

The only problem was that while she was there the mercury dipped well below zero, the water froze and Moïse was to all intents and purposes bleatingly-well stranded.

"Firefighters to the rescue" as a local unit from a nearby station was called in on Tuesday morning to help.

The ice was apparently only thin (perhaps Moïse hadn't realised) which meant the rescuers could approach in a small boat (see the picture accompanying the original report).

But as they inched forwards, getting ever closer, Moïse did what any self-respecting sheep would do and panicked, jumping into the icy water and managing to get herself stuck in the silt.

The lifeboat did a round of the island and by the time it had returned to the spot where Moïse had "taken the plunge" there she was, back where she had started.

Their second rescue attempt met with success and together - two men and a sheep in a boat - they headed across the ice to the safety of terra firma, where Moïse was given the once over to check that she was healthy, before "gambolling" off to join the rest of the flock.

Brrr and baa!