Toulon chief Boudjellal fined £65,000 for defending player after homophobic slur

Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal has been fined more than £65,000 and his club handed a suspended fivepoint deduction.

The punishments, announced by European Professional Club Rugby, follow an independent disciplinary committee hearing into misconduct complaints against Boudjellal and Toulon that was held in London earlier this month.

EPCR said Boudjellal “made comments that (among other things) allegedly condoned homophobic conduct, discriminated against and insulted various groups, and brought the game of rugby into disrepute by attacking, disparaging and criticising EPCR” following a Champions Cup game against Italian side Benetton last season.

Boudjellal’s comments were made to the media during January and February. His remarks included him staunchly defending Toulon star Mathieu Bastareaud, who was cited after the Benetton match and banned for three weeks after admitting verbally abusing a Benetton player with a homophobic slur.

Boudjellal must pay a fine of €75,000 (£66,500) immediately, with a further €25,000 (£22,000) suspended for three years for any similar offending or misconduct in any rugby jurisdiction.

Three-time European champions Toulon, meanwhile,

0 Mourad Boudjellal: Fined.

have received a deduction of five match points, suspended for three seasons, that applies to any EPCR-RUN tournament.

The points deduction will be activated “for any similar offending or misconduct by the club or any of its representatives in any rugby jurisdiction”, EPCR said.

EPCR added in its statement: “EPCR brought misconduct complaints in respect of those comments against Mr Boudjellal and RC Toulon (the complaints against RC Toulon were based on their overall responsibility for the actions of Mr Boudjellal and failure to control those actions).

“The independent disciplinary committee upheld the complaints against Mr Boudjellal and RC Toulon in their entirety, ruling (among other things) that Mr Boudjellal’s comments discriminated against and insulted a number of different groups and that they brought the game of rugby into disrepute.

“The independent disciplinary committee considered the misconduct to have been very serious and determined that both Mr Boudjellal and RC Toulon should receive a significant sanction.”