A court decision to wash away his honor. The now ex-president of RC Toulon, Mourad Boudjellal, won his lawsuit against the EPCR, the company which organizes the European Rugby Cups, and its general manager Vincent Gaillard, reveals the daily Var Matin . The latter were found guilty of defamation against the former Var leader who had been accused of "homophobic behavior" in a press release dated July 2018. Vincent Gaillard was sentenced to a suspended fine of € 5,000 and the proceedings European to a firm fine of 10,000 euros.
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It all started with an exit from Boudjellal in January 2018. At the end of the match between the RCT and Treviso, Mathieu Bastareaud had been quoted for homophobic remarks towards an Italian player ("fucking fagot", "damn fagot") . In the heat, Mourad Boudjellal, had feared that his player would be harshly punished and he had declared to Rugbyrama : “I am worried. What I fear is the Mormon side of the EPCR with the Welsh and the Irish. These are people who sell morality when they don't have it. The same ones who have ministers who get whipped in the private sector but who pass for "clean" guys in public. ”
Falsely accused of sending an abusive SMS
According to the EPCR, Boudjellal then sent an insult text message to Liam McTiernan, the disciplinary officer in charge of the proceeding. Even the President of Var had filed a complaint against X for identity theft. An internal investigation had been conducted by the EPCR without its findings being officially known. But, in the end, the European body had recognized that he was not the author of this message.
Boudjellal had been summoned before the independent disciplinary committee of the EPCR and sentenced, in July 2018, to a fine of € 75,000 payable immediately and a suspended sentence of € 25,000 for three years to the president of the Rugby Club Toulonnais. And the reimbursement of € 100,000 for lawyers' fees, for a total of € 175,000. In addition, the Toulon club was "subject to a withdrawal of five points in the ranking suspended for three seasons for any infraction or similar inappropriate behavior on the part of the club or one of its representatives in any rugby association. during his participation in EPCR tournaments, ”said the EPCR press release.
" Mr. Boudjellal reacted with comments that, among other things, demonstrated homophobic behavior"
EPCR press releaseThe reason for these sanctions according to the EPCR: “ Following the match of the 5th day of the Champions Cup between RC Toulon and Benetton Rugby on January 14, 2018, Mr. Boudjellal reacted with remarks which, among others, exhibited homophobic behavior, and discriminated against, insulted different groups and discredited rugby through attacks, criticism and disparaging words towards the EPCR. ”
Continuation of the case. The Sunday Journal had revealed, at the start of the season, that the EPCR had decided to withdraw this € 175,000 fine from the amount allocated annually to the National Rugby League. Indeed, on November 6, an LNR vote had been organized during an exceptional general assembly to know if this fine could be settled by the League. At the end of the vote, there was a tie between the votes "for" and the votes "against" but Paul Goze, the president of the LNR, decided in favor of the Toulon leader. Furthermore, the JDD told us that Boudjellal undertook to reimburse these € 175,000 if his legal proceedings against the EPCR succeed.
At the end of August 2018, Mourad Boudjellal had explained to Le Figaro: “It is an attempt to extort funds. We filed a complaint. I have nothing to do with the EPCR, I don't know who these people are. They were not honest enough to say, in their press release, that they also ask me for 100,000 euros in legal fees. So 175,000 euros in all! They left me until August 16 to pay. It is out of the question that a Swiss entity under private law, to which I have never joined, would allow that. They accuse me of homophobia… It must have made people who know me laugh. I have brought a personal complaint against all the members of this pseudo-tribunal (the EPCR disciplinary committee) for attempted extortion and harassment. Between July and August, we received 186 emails. In six months, I had to receive a thousand. It's organized harassment. ” It is for these homophobia accusations that the EPCR and its director general were sentenced on Wednesday.
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