Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ex-Wallaby Rocky Elsom faces international arrest warrant

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 29: Rocky Elsom of the Waratahs looks dejected after the Waratahs defeat in the round 10 Super Rugby match between the Waratahs and the Crusaders at Allianz Stadium on April 29, 2012 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom has been found guilty on charges relating to forgery, and misuse of corporate assets by the Narbonne court on the 11th of October.

ADVERTISEMENT

He has been sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay back €700,000 (almost 590,000£), as reported by the regional daily L’Indépendant, which covered the trial. Elsom did not attend the hearing, and an international arrest warrant has been issued for him.

He assumed multiple roles as player, recruiter, and chairman

Elsom joined Racing Club Narbonnais as a player in 2015, during a period when the club had been owned for four years by a consortium of Australian investors, FG Management (FGM). This group included former coach Bob Dwyer, who led Australia to the 1991 World Cup victory.

The flanker played only a few matches in the orange and black jersey of the club in Pro D2, marking the final appearances of his playing career.

Video Spacer

How Leinster crumbled when faced with the Bulls | RPTV

Boks Office discuss how Leinster couldn’t handle the Bulls pressure and how it looks for Ireland. Watch exclusively on RugbyPass TV

Watch now

Video Spacer

How Leinster crumbled when faced with the Bulls | RPTV

Boks Office discuss how Leinster couldn’t handle the Bulls pressure and how it looks for Ireland. Watch exclusively on RugbyPass TV

Watch now

However, FG Management, which had promised great things for Narbonne, quickly withdrew. The former flanker, Rocky Elsom, then appeared to take control of the club, assuming multiple roles as player, recruiter, and chairman.

He has misappropriated the club’s financial assets

The situation quickly deteriorated due to the lack of transparency in Elsom’s administration, which raised suspicions among the club’s longstanding directors.

Within just a few months in 2016, the former Australian international reportedly misappropriated the club’s financial assets, totaling around €700,000, for his own benefit and that of a few close friends and family members, including players who held club licenses.

In June 2016, Elsom was questioned by Narbonne police for two hours. Accompanied by Lei Tomiki, an Australian back-row player who had played for Narbonne as well, he visited the office of the club’s lawyer, Frédéric Pinet. The discussion became heated, leading Pinet to file a complaint for “minor violence and threats”.

Elsom now lives in Ireland

Rocky Elsom has been out of the public eye since his abrupt exit from Narbonne, but he recently resurfaced in an interview with The Times published on October 6. In the interview, he revealed that he has been in Ireland since August 26 and intends to remain there until December.

He is currently coaching the modest Catholic University team, a position he secured on the recommendation of Leo Cullen, one of his former teammates at Leinster, where Elsom played during the 2008-2009 season. He also mentioned that he is in the process of establishing a construction business in Noosa, Queensland, in northeast Australia.

ADVERTISEMENT

The article also reveals that he has been invited by Leinster to attend the match against Munster on Saturday 12th of October, commemorating his glory days. During his time as a Leinster player, he participated in 20 matches, earning the man of the match award 13 times, including during the HCup semi-final and final, and he was never substituted.

The short-lived manager did not exhibit the same rigor or achieve the same success.

With an international arrest warrant now issued, his attendance at Croke Park on Saturday evening appears more than unlikely.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

4 Comments
C
Cheers 38 days ago

So just an Australian doing standard convict things

J
JK 38 days ago

'Try not to nick anything...' Rocky {challenged accepted}


In other news, Michael Hooper caught stealing a candy bar from a convenience store (this is a joke)

M
MakeOllieMathisAnAB 39 days ago

Absolute witch hunt. Being a criminal is a cherished part of Australian culture.

O
OJohn 39 days ago

Can Australian rugby get any worse ?

Yes I believe it can.

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

287 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Cheslin Kolbe backed to end 16-year wait Cheslin Kolbe backed to end 16-year wait
Search