Fresh documents could clear former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom’s name

Four months after being convicted by a French court, former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom claims new financial documents could help prove he is not guilty.

Rocky Elsom. Picture: Cameron Spencer.

Former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom claims newly released financial documents prove he is not guilty of misusing funds while he was president of a French rugby club - but fears he will be thrown in jail if he returns to France to defend himself in person.

Almost four months after Elsom’s conviction in a French court, the former rugby union star says financial reports show the Narbonne club “had in excess of one million euros in available capital, a far cry from the catastrophic financial position claimed”.

Elsom, who has 70 international caps to his name, was handed a five-year prison sentence by a French court in October 2024 for misuse of corporate assets and forgery.

The conviction triggered an international arrest warrant, but Rocky, who strongly denies these allegations, remains on the run, claiming he was not informed of this hearing and was not given the opportunity to defend himself against the allegation.

“If I return to France I will likely be arrested and placed in custody until the case is thrown out,” Elsom told the Sunday Telegraph this week.

Rocky Elsom, the former rugby union star, is fighting to clear his name.. Picture: Lindsay Moller

He was found guilty in absentia for making payments in 2016 which the court ruled were instrumental in Narbonne rugby’s liquidation two years later.

While the individual payments were accepted by the court as being lawful, the prosecutor successfully argued that the payments were criminal in nature because they were inappropriately timed, due to the club’s financial position - an argument that Elsom and his legal team claim is contradicted by the club’s own financial reports.

Elsom says the financial reports, which were not listed in the court’s documents, also show “massive increases in discretionary spending”, discrediting the case against him.

The League National de Rugby or LNR, reportedly shows Elsom’s ownership of Narbonne coincided with the club’s most successful on-field performances since going professional in 1996.

Financial records also show record operating profits in 2014 and 2015, prior to the

club’s sale in 2016, he said.

Rocky Elsom during Australia's Wallabies captain's run training session at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, in preparation for a Tri Nations decider.

Rocky Elsom looks on during a Waratahs Super Rugby training session at Moore Park in 2012. Photo: Mark Metcalfe

“I received the club with a 1.4 to 2 million euro hole in the balance sheet and almost no

capital and they received the club with a healthy balance sheet and over one million euro in

available capital,” Elsom said. “There can be no further dispute about the club’s

financial health.”

Elsom said the fact that this information is only coming to light now is “an indictment on the

process” and called for the immediate release of the 2017/18 financial reports.

Narbonne finished last in 2018, two years after Elsom departed the club and were

relegated on sporting grounds before being liquidated with a reported one million euros owing to creditors.

None of the club’s management at the time have been charged.

Elsom’s lawyer Yann l Bras said in a statement that “in 30 years as a lawyer I have never seen a case accumulates so many discrepancies in complying with the law”, referring to the

Narbonne court granting an exemption from notifying Elsom of the trial’s existence.

Elsom’s scheduled opposition to his October 11 conviction has been delayed until

February 24 with the possibility that while Elsom’s trail was heard in absentia, my

opposition may not be”, hinting he could return to France.

Leading Australian criminal barrister Joe Crowley told the Sunday Telegraph the idea that in Australia you could be convicted and sentenced to five years’ jail for financial mismanagement is “farcical”.

Joe Crowley.

“The accounting records from Narbonne demonstrate the club had plenty of money when Rocky left,” said Mr Crowley who has been closely following the case.

“The case itself doesn’t make sense. To say that the financial decisions taken in 2016 were the cause of financial collapse in 2018 is illogical. What happened in 2017? To draw that conclusion the court would need evidence from a financial expert. It seems in Rocky’s case the court didn’t have that.”

Mr Crowley said the court did even have access to the books of account for the relevant periods.

“In Australia judges would not sentence someone to five years jail without having all relevant information before them. The fact that Rocky wasn’t in court is even more reason that handing out a jail term was inappropriate.”

Describing the case as “very strange”, Mr Crowley said Australia would never convict a person who wasn’t represented in the court and such a practice was “grossly unfair.

The president of the football club from the 2016/17 and 2017/2018 seasons has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as Fresh documents could clear former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom’s name