The tribute to the victims of November 13 at the Stade de France will be a “huge moment for French sport” predicts the president of the French Rugby Federation

The tribute to the victims of the attacks of November 13, 2015, paid at the Stade de France on Friday November 13, will be a "huge moment for rugby, for French sport", said Friday on franceinfo Florian Grill, the president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR). For the first time since the attacks which struck the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, and Paris, a national team is playing on November 13 on this same lawn. This is the rugby match between France and South Africa.

“I am very proud that rugby is the first sport to return to the Stade de France, on Friday November 13,” declares Florian Grill. For this ceremony entitled "Being one", "we will recover the energy of the public which we will transmit to the entire French team" and to the families of the victims. Without “revealing all the manufacturing secrets”, Florian Grill nevertheless indicates “that we are going to experience an exceptional moment for all the spectators at the Stade de France”.

The president of the French Rugby Federation expects “a moment of emotion”. “In rugby, we stick together, both in moments of joy and in moments of sadness. And we are going to combine the two and it is going to be a huge moment for rugby, for French sport. We will be one, we will be a nation,” continues Florian Grill. “The country needs these moments of coming together, in difficult times as well as in joyful times,” according to him.

He adds that "rugby expresses perfectly well what we want to say to all the families of the victims of the attacks. It is a principle of solidarity, we are together and we know why we are together. It is both very strong, symbolic, and we do it with a lot of respect and a lot of humility", he concludes.