Provence Rugby player Ludovic Radosavljevic was handed a 26 week ban on Thursday as punishment for racially abusing a player in the ProD2, the second tier of French rugby.
The 32-year-old admitted to abusing Nevers’ Cameroonian winger Christian Ambadiang and as a result will be forced to watch on from the sidelines until April 25.
Ambadiang accused Radosavljevic of calling him a “banana eater” during Provence’s defeat of Nevers at the beginning of September.
Radosavljevic, who spent 12 years in the Top 14 with Clermont and Castres, apologised for his actions.
22-year-old Ambadiang had received widespread support from the rugby world and beyond as a result of the incident.
LNR, the body that is in charge of professional rugby in France, said of the incident “given the particular seriousness” of the abuse, its disciplinary commission “determined the entry point for the offence at 52 weeks, the maximum sanction authorised.”
The initial ruling of a ban of 52 weeks was reduced to 26 weeks after scrum-half Radosavljevic “recognised the facts with which he is accused…… the recognition of his guilt, his clean disciplinary record and the expression of remorse before the hearing”.
