A FRENCH RUGBY player who went against the advice of surgeons to return to the sport after the Paris terrorist attacks of November 2015 has been forced to give up the sport because his “destroyed body” can no longer cope.

Aristide Barraud, who played at fly-half or scrum-half for Italian club Mogliano, was advised to give up the sport by top medical staff after suffering serious injuries to his lung and leg on November 13 when he was caught up in the attacks at ‘Le Petit Cambodge’ restaurant in the French capital.

Barraud, who spent two seasons at Stade Francais in Paris before eventually joining the Italian club, said his “destroyed” body could no longer cope.

“I’ve fought, since the first day when I realised what had really happened. I went against the advice of the surgeons to return,” Barraud said in a statement issued by his club.

But something’s changed. Over the past three months my body’s been telling me it can no longer take the physical effort. I’m 28 years old, and, in short, my body’s destroyed.


“If I keep on playing, I’m putting my life at risk. And dying on the pitch, in front of my friends and family, doesn’t seem such a great idea.”

– © AFP 2017

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