Argentine rugby player murdered in Paris honored by French league

Federico Aramburú, a former Argentine rugby player who was murdered after a bar brawl in 2022 in Paris, was honored by France’s National Rugby League (LNR) this week, with the announcement that the Social Commitment Award will now carry his name. According to the LNR, the award aims to reward “the greatest victories” that are “not won solely on the rugby pitch” and “keeping alive the spirit of sharing embodied by [Aramburú].” The first winner of the award was Racing 92, for their project to develop an adapted rugby section for people with intellectual disabilities. Earlier this year, the Council of Paris created the Aramburú Prize, awarded annually to a club, association, or athlete in recognition of their efforts to combat racism in sports.

Aramburú spent six years of his professional career in France, playing for Biarritz Olympique — with whom he won the French league twice — USAP Perpignan and US Dax, between 2004 and 2010. He also played for the Pumas, Argentina’s men’s national rugby team, scoring eight tries and featuring regularly during the 2007 Rugby World Cup, where the team won the bronze medal. Aramburú’s murder Aramburú was murdered on March 19, 2022, outside a bar in Paris.

He was walking to his hotel with friend and former teammate Shaun Hegarty when two men with whom they had gotten into an altercation earlier, Loïk Le Priol and Romain Bouvier, pulled up alongside in a car, stepped out of the vehicle and opened fire on them. On September 25, Le Priol and Bouvier were sentenced to 26 and 19 years in prison, for murder and attempted murder, respectively, after the Paris Criminal Court determined they hadn’t acted with premeditation. Another two men, Lyson Rochemir and Anthony Sorrentino, received a three-year suspended sentence for withholding evidence.

Le Priol showed repentance during the trial, admitting that anything he could say would “never be enough and will never replace Aramburú,” and he expressed hope that the former player’s family “will one day find the strength” to forgive him. La entrada Argentine rugby player murdered in Paris honored by French league se publicó primero en Buenos Aires Herald.