Top 14 veteran Jerome Bosviel has opened up about the gambling addiction that led him to take money from a Montauban squad fund meant to pay for an end-of-season team holiday.
The French club’s players had been saving for a celebratory trip to Ibiza following their surprise Pro D2 title win in June, but those plans were derailed when it emerged that their flyhalf had siphoned cash from the fund during the 2024-25 season to feed his addiction.
Bosviel has since paid the money back and spoken publicly about the darkest period of his career.
“I fell into gambling, poker and PMU [the French state-controlled betting system],” Bosviel told Rugbyrama.fr. “I hid it from everyone close to me. I felt ashamed. I am the eldest of the siblings, I’m a father, I didn’t want to talk about it. When I came to rugby, I didn’t think about it. But once I was outside, I locked myself away in it.”
The 35-year-old said the withdrawals from the team account began at the start of last season.
“I wrote down everything I took in a notebook so I could then replenish the account,” he explained. “I swear I wanted to pay it all back, to the last cent. I knew it wasn’t right, but it was stronger than me, always with the idea of paying back what I was taking.”
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The flyhalf confessed to his teammates after their Pro D2 final victory.
“On the Monday, there was a meeting with the whole squad. I admitted to them for the first time what I had done,” he said. “It was obviously a shock, but it was necessary. Some people were and still are angry with me. I’m aware that I disappointed them. I’ve repaid more than the amount I borrowed. Now, I only want to do one thing: play rugby.”
Bosviel has started four of Montauban’s six Top 14 matches this season as their first-choice flyhalf.
Photo: @jerome_bosviel/Instagram
The post Flyhalf regrets betting away team’s Ibiza fund appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Top 14 veteran Jerome Bosviel has opened up about the gambling addiction that led him to take money from a Montauban squad fund meant to pay for an end-of-season team holiday.
The post Flyhalf regrets betting away team’s Ibiza fund appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
