According to Vikash Dhorasoo, a former Blue, the whole team had no other choice than eating "halal" meals. That was decided by the Bleus. Vikash may explain there why Gourcuff was put aside by his mates. I'm surprised because as you know, the France NT is supposed to represent values of the République : Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, and of course Laïcité. His exact words : Source: Le Monde
first rule: let's make sure this thread doesn't get hijacked by the hallal issue in general. second rule: this is only hearsay, let's keep in mind that just because vikash says someone else said it doesn't make it true. this source is not Le Monde. it is vikash's personal blog on lemonde.fr ... the distinction is important. finally, the issue in my mind would not be (note the conditional) one of laïcite, but one of a vociferous few (at my count only 6 or 7 of the team are muslim, and only a minority of that minority could be behind this) playing schoolyard power games for reasons that have nothing to do with religion.
I hope that line made your day. I guess having to bear each and and every lamer of the Interwebz is part of the sanction...Wait, wait, wait ! What sanction ? I did nothing wrong after all !