‘Ashamed’ French fly-half breaks silence on gambling addiction that led to him taking money his squad had saved for a holiday
Jerome Bosviel after the Pro D2 title win he celebrated with his Montauban teammates, inset
A Top 14 fly-half has explained how a gambling addiction resulted in him taking money from a squad fund that was supposed to pay for an end-of-season club holiday.
Montauban players hoped to go to Ibiza to celebrate their unexpected Pro D2 title win last June.
Instead, it emerged that one of their star players, the veteran No.10 Jerome Bosviel, had been siphoning off cash from the team’s savings account so that he could gamble during the 2024/25 season.
Bosviel came clean at the time of their title win and, having since repaid what he owed to his teammates, he has now given an interview detailing how his addiction spiralled and its negative effects on him.
He explained how he fell victim to gambling before he was given control of the Montauban squad’s collective savings fund, and it was at the start of last season when he began to dip into that account to pay for his addiction.
“I knew it wasn’t right…”
Speaking to rugbyrama.fr, the 35-year-old said: “I fell into gambling, poker and PMU [the French state-controlled betting system]. 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.”
At least when he began dipping into his team’s savings, he kept track of all the withdrawals and it meant that eventually settling up what he owed became an easier task.
“I wrote down everything I took in a notebook so I could then replenish the account. I swear I wanted to pay it all back, to the last cent,” he continued. “I knew it wasn’t right, but it was stronger than me, always with the idea of paying back what I was taking.”
It was after Montauban won the Pro D2 final to secure promotion to the 2025/26 Top 14 that Bosviel fessed up. “On the Monday, there was a meeting with the whole squad. I admitted to them for the first time what I had done.
“At the time, it was obviously a shock, but it was necessary. Some people were and still are angry with me. I am aware that I disappointed them. I have repaid more than the amount I borrowed. Now, I only want to do one thing: play rugby.”
Bosviel has so far appeared in five of Montauban’s six matches in this season’s Top 14, starting as their No.10 on four occasions.
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