MARSEILLE // The French national football manager Laurent Blanc, a hero of his country's winning 1998 World Cup campaign, escaped punishment yesterday in the scandal over disclosures that officials discussed racial quotas for young players.
Blanc has apologised for "clumsy" remarks made during a meeting last November that considered limiting the number of black and Arab schoolboy players admitted to national training centres.
The least suspicion of racial policy-making at the heart of French sport was enough to highlight once again France's difficulties in assimilating immigrants and their descendants with roots in the former colonies of North and sub-Saharan Africa.
But the French sports minister, Chantal Jouanno, said an inquiry by her department had cleared Blanc of wrongdoing. The French Football Federation (FFF) announced it had separately found no evidence of discriminatory measures being pursued.
Minimising the manager's role, Ms Jouanno said Blanc was neither "organiser nor pilot" of the discussion.
Unlike other participants at the meeting, a secret recording of which was made available to the investigative news website Mediapart, he offered no opinions on quotas.
There was no evidence to suggest he supported discriminatory guidelines.
However, the minister strongly criticised the manner in which the FFF meeting of coaches had debated the issue of players with dual nationality and considered quotas.
"The subject was raised in a manner both clumsy and clearly uncalled-for … the general impression that emerges is really very unpleasant, with innuendoes that very often were borderline tending toward racist," she said.
The inquiry by her inspectors found no infringements to anti-discrimination law. "I'm not here to chop off heads," Ms Jouanno added. "It's not my role."
Mediapart was given a recording of the November 8 meeting by a disgruntled FFF official. Blanc was heard to say: "It bothers me greatly when players who have represented France at youth level go on to play for North African or African teams. A line must be drawn."
But Ms Jouanno said the manager also stated: "If there are only blacks in the training centres and these blacks are French and want to play in the France team that is all fine by me."
She said it was for the FFF to decide whether to dismiss its technical director, François Blacquart. He was suspended after the recording showed he suggested an unspoken "sort of quota" could be introduced.
Ms Jouanno said Mr Blaquart, who is a prominent member of an antiracist sports association, acknowledged his words were regrettable. Nevertheless, there was no evidence to demonstrate "a racist or discriminatory philosophy".
Blanc risked losing not only his job but the credibility he commands as a member of the "black-blanc-beur" (black-white-Arab) World Cup squad that proudly represented France and its ethnic mix. He missed the final through suspension but was crucial to French progress through the earlier rounds.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
With additional reporting by the Associated Press
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
What%20is%20Dungeons%20%26%20Dragons%3F%20
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At a glance - Zayed Sustainability Prize 2020
Launched: 2008
Categories: Health, energy, water, food, global high schools
Prize: Dh2.2 million (Dh360,000 for global high schools category)
Winners’ announcement: Monday, January 13
Impact in numbers
335 million people positively impacted by projects
430,000 jobs created
10 million people given access to clean and affordable drinking water
50 million homes powered by renewable energy
6.5 billion litres of water saved
26 million school children given solar lighting
ON%20TRACK
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
If you go
The flights
Emirates (www.emirates.com) and Etihad (www.etihad.com) both fly direct to Bengaluru, with return fares from Dh 1240. From Bengaluru airport, Coorg is a five-hour drive by car.
The hotels
The Tamara (www.thetamara.com) is located inside a working coffee plantation and offers individual villas with sprawling views of the hills (tariff from Dh1,300, including taxes and breakfast).
When to go
Coorg is an all-year destination, with the peak season for travel extending from the cooler months between October and March.
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
More on Quran memorisation:
Results
2.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Mezmar, Adam McLean (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 2,000m; Winner: AF Ajwad, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Gold Silver, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel.
4pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,000m; Winner: Atrash, Richard Mullen, Ana Mendez.
4.30pm: Gulf Cup Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Momtaz, Saif Al Balushi, Musabah Al Muhairi.
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Al Mushtashar, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
* JP Morgan Private Bank
The%20Specs
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COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.