French rugby suffers mass resignations over Bernard Laporte's continued influence

French rugby was plunged into civil war on Friday with 11 of 38 elected members of its executive board resigning in protest of Bernard Laporte's continued power.

While Laporte, World Rugby's vice-chairman who was "self-suspended" after being found guilty of an illegal conflict of interests, insider influencing, and four instances of passive corruption, resigned from his role as president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) on Friday morning, his support team refused to follow his lead despite calls from the French sports minister, Amelie Oudea-Castera, for them to depart. Unless a majority of FFR board members resign, however, then Laporte's allies are under no obligation to stand aside until elections take place in July, leading to a stand-off.

The situation was branded "pathetic" by a well placed source in France when approached by Telegraph Sport. "It is almost like a dictatorship clinging on to power," they added. Telegraph Sport understands, too, that the professional clubs in France - that of the Ligue Nationale de Rugby - are vehemently opposed to the current stalemate. Rene Bouscatel, the LNR president, and Didier Lacroix, the president of Toulouse, are the two representatives of the professional clubs on the FFR board and both resigned in protest on Friday.

Laporte was handed a two-year suspended sentence at a Paris court in December but remained in his FFR post until Friday morning despite mounting pressure against him. Laporte nominated Patrick Buisson to replace him as interim president while the former France head coach appealed against his sentence but French rugby clubs voted against the motion on Thursday.

About 90 per cent of clubs participated in Thursday's electronic vote, which went against Buisson by 51 to 49 per cent, which led to Laporte submitting his resignation during an executive committee meeting of the federation with Oudea-Castera on Friday morning.

The sports ministry told The Associated Press that Oudea-Castera was informed of Laporte's resignation upon her arrival at the meeting, with the sports minister welcoming the decision, saying it was "necessary" following the vote of the clubs.

"Bernard Laporte has drawn conclusions, which is a good thing for French rugby, for its values and for the future," Oudea-Castera said after the meeting.

She then recommended that the entire executive committee resign in order to hold new general elections, but they have so far resisted those calls.