Raymond Domenech’s refusal to shake hands with Carlos Alberto Parreira contravenes the Gallic spirit.
That bit of bad behaviour rankled some of the august members of the National Assembly more than L’equipe’s farcical World Cup performance as hearings began. Domenech and Jean Pierre Escalettes were unable to provide satisfactory answers or to shed light in a disappointing first session.
Jean-Francois Cope:
” I do not understand why Raymond Domenech did not shake hands with the coach of South Africa. He said it was to protest what the coach had said about Thierry Henry’s hand when the teams met in Ireland last November.”
The underlying theme was the national team tarnishing France’s image in the eyes of the world.
“To win or lose matches that is part of sports but the moment there are consequences in terms of national and international image, our job is to make that clear.”
Initially, the hearings were said to be televised to the public but on Domenech’s insistence they were held in camera (how typical of the man). It was left to an enterprising member of the UMP to Twitter the proceedings before he was caught and “red carded”.