(@saffahub)Max Brito - Rugby Player
Donation protected
As Reported by by Richard O’Hagan, on bloodandmud , more info on www.facebook.com/saffahub
"by Richard O’Hagan
The 2015 iteration of the Rugby World Cup is upon us and, understandably, people have been looking back to the event twenty years ago in South Africa.
For many people, that was the year that the tournament became real. South Africa back in the bosom of world rugby. Pienaar and Mandela. Lomu trampling everything in his path. But there was a dark side to that competition, a side that the tournament organisers would like erased from history, and which you will rarely hear mentioned whenever 1995 is discussed. It doesn’t even feature in the Wikipedia page for the tournament.
Sixteen teams took part in that competition and from the outset the fear was that there would be hugely one-sided games, with a risk of injury much greater for the smaller rugby nations pitted against the bigger sides. And one-sided the games were. This year’s heroes Japan shipped a record 145 points against New Zealand. Wales and Ireland each ran up half centuries against the Brave Blossoms.
And then there was the Ivory Coast – or Cote d’Ivoire, as they called themselves. Playing in their first and only World Cup to date, they conceded 89 points to Scotland (yes, Scotland!) in their opening game and a further 54 to France before losing a close encounter to Tonga in their final game.
Max Brito was one of the stars of that team. The dreadlocked winger was one of the few to play overseas, in France, where he already had a wife and family. But a hamstring injury kept him out of the starting line-up until that Tonga game.
In the third minute of the game Brito caught a high ball before being tackled by a Tongan player. A ruck formed and when the play moved on Brito lay motionless on the pitch. He himself described a feeling of an electric charge passing down his body and then everything feeling dead. He suffered a dislocation of the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae. He has never walked since.
Brito’s initial medical treatment and rehabilitation in South Africa, and his repatriation to France, were paid for by contributions from the nations competing in the World Cup. But his story was swiftly out of the headlines, brushed away as the media focussed on Lomu, Mandela and the Springboks.
It is a situation which Rugby World Cup have been quite happy with. The money soon stopped and by 2003 Brito’s wife and children had abandoned him and he was living on benefits with his parents in Bordeaux, spending most of his time in bed, unable to move much more than his head and one arm. Damien Hopley, the head of the Professional Rugby Players Association, bemoaned at the time that Rugby World Cup had done so little for Brito. Before and since then players from England and the Ivory Coast have arranged matches to raise money for him, but RWC has by all accounts done nothing. The equally tragic story of Joost van der Westhuizen, the scrum half of that winning Springbok side, has been featured prominently during this 2015 competition, with the Samoan side even singing to him on the pitch, but of Brito, the man whose life was ruined on the game’s biggest stage, there has been only silence.
By now, the only reasons for that silence can be a combination of shame and greed. Shame not at the way they have treated the one man to be seriously injured during a professional tournament, but at the fact that the injury occurred precisely as they had been warned, albeit in a game between two of those smaller nations. And greed, because serious injuries are bad for the game.
This is utterly shameful. That rugby can be a dangerous game is in no doubt. The story of Matt Hampson is well known. To airbrush Max Brito from the history of the World Cup, to rake in the millions of pounds in profit from the 2015 tournament without passing a penny of that money to a man so badly in need of it, is a disgrace to the sport and an insult to every person who has ever played it."
saffahub: Lets get him the support he needs. Bring this to the attention of RugbyworldCup2015 to give him the support he needs.
Once we have raised enough, we will get in touch with him via the Media, so we can all see how much our support means to him. Even if you think the amount is small, to him it would make a big difference. If this campaign can be brought to the attention of the right people, i am sure those that need to take notice, will. Once they do, he will be given the support he should have had from the start.
Thank you very much.
After you donated, if you like, go to www.facebook.com/saffahub and write your message of support to Max under the donation post. We can hand these to him too.
Christopher - Saffahub #fortheloveofthegame
"by Richard O’Hagan
The 2015 iteration of the Rugby World Cup is upon us and, understandably, people have been looking back to the event twenty years ago in South Africa.
For many people, that was the year that the tournament became real. South Africa back in the bosom of world rugby. Pienaar and Mandela. Lomu trampling everything in his path. But there was a dark side to that competition, a side that the tournament organisers would like erased from history, and which you will rarely hear mentioned whenever 1995 is discussed. It doesn’t even feature in the Wikipedia page for the tournament.
Sixteen teams took part in that competition and from the outset the fear was that there would be hugely one-sided games, with a risk of injury much greater for the smaller rugby nations pitted against the bigger sides. And one-sided the games were. This year’s heroes Japan shipped a record 145 points against New Zealand. Wales and Ireland each ran up half centuries against the Brave Blossoms.
And then there was the Ivory Coast – or Cote d’Ivoire, as they called themselves. Playing in their first and only World Cup to date, they conceded 89 points to Scotland (yes, Scotland!) in their opening game and a further 54 to France before losing a close encounter to Tonga in their final game.
Max Brito was one of the stars of that team. The dreadlocked winger was one of the few to play overseas, in France, where he already had a wife and family. But a hamstring injury kept him out of the starting line-up until that Tonga game.
In the third minute of the game Brito caught a high ball before being tackled by a Tongan player. A ruck formed and when the play moved on Brito lay motionless on the pitch. He himself described a feeling of an electric charge passing down his body and then everything feeling dead. He suffered a dislocation of the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae. He has never walked since.
Brito’s initial medical treatment and rehabilitation in South Africa, and his repatriation to France, were paid for by contributions from the nations competing in the World Cup. But his story was swiftly out of the headlines, brushed away as the media focussed on Lomu, Mandela and the Springboks.
It is a situation which Rugby World Cup have been quite happy with. The money soon stopped and by 2003 Brito’s wife and children had abandoned him and he was living on benefits with his parents in Bordeaux, spending most of his time in bed, unable to move much more than his head and one arm. Damien Hopley, the head of the Professional Rugby Players Association, bemoaned at the time that Rugby World Cup had done so little for Brito. Before and since then players from England and the Ivory Coast have arranged matches to raise money for him, but RWC has by all accounts done nothing. The equally tragic story of Joost van der Westhuizen, the scrum half of that winning Springbok side, has been featured prominently during this 2015 competition, with the Samoan side even singing to him on the pitch, but of Brito, the man whose life was ruined on the game’s biggest stage, there has been only silence.
By now, the only reasons for that silence can be a combination of shame and greed. Shame not at the way they have treated the one man to be seriously injured during a professional tournament, but at the fact that the injury occurred precisely as they had been warned, albeit in a game between two of those smaller nations. And greed, because serious injuries are bad for the game.
This is utterly shameful. That rugby can be a dangerous game is in no doubt. The story of Matt Hampson is well known. To airbrush Max Brito from the history of the World Cup, to rake in the millions of pounds in profit from the 2015 tournament without passing a penny of that money to a man so badly in need of it, is a disgrace to the sport and an insult to every person who has ever played it."
saffahub: Lets get him the support he needs. Bring this to the attention of RugbyworldCup2015 to give him the support he needs.
Once we have raised enough, we will get in touch with him via the Media, so we can all see how much our support means to him. Even if you think the amount is small, to him it would make a big difference. If this campaign can be brought to the attention of the right people, i am sure those that need to take notice, will. Once they do, he will be given the support he should have had from the start.
Thank you very much.
After you donated, if you like, go to www.facebook.com/saffahub and write your message of support to Max under the donation post. We can hand these to him too.
Christopher - Saffahub #fortheloveofthegame
Organizer
Christopher Ackermann
Organizer
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