Rocky Elsom says French legal battle has made him unemployable in rugby as former Wallabies captain fights to clear his name

Former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom claims his French legal battle has damaged his reputation and left him unable to find work in rugby. 

The 43-year-old maintains his innocence and is appealing his conviction and two-year prison sentence for misusing corporate assets while running French rugby club Narbonne.

Elsom initially received a five-year prison sentence before being retried in 2025, where forgery counts were dismissed and he was sentenced to two years for misusing corporate assets. 

The former Australian skipper told Ben Fordham on 2GB on Thursday the fallout had extended beyond the courtroom and affected his employment prospects within rugby. 

Asked whether some in rugby were avoiding him because they suspected he had done something wrong, Elsom said that reaction was understandable.

‘Well, for ten years, this rumour had been going on of, you know, a police investigation and misappropriation, and I had no mechanism to defend it,’ he said.

‘Now I do.’

Elsom said reports in the French media had kept the allegations hanging over him long after his departure from Narbonne.

He said his record running the club had been overshadowed by the case.

‘You know, like, must have had some ability from running that club and having, you know, consecutive years of profit and being quite successful on the field, but you can’t employ someone like that that has that at least hanging over.’

Elsom claimed those involved in pursuing the case had intended to prevent him from working in rugby again. 

‘And that’s the intention,’ he said.

‘They didn’t want me to work in rugby again.’

Elsom also challenged the financial basis of his remaining conviction, producing documents in the studio that he claimed contradicted the prosecution case about Narbonne’s financial position when he left. 

He claimed financial reports filed during and after his tenure showed Narbonne was in its strongest financial position in years when he departed. 

‘And at very least, €3,000,000 [A$4,832,700] better than when I first received the club,’ he said.

‘Now you can’t argue with those, so why is there still a charge?

‘And this is my question to the prosecutor.

‘Why is there still the potential charge of asset abuse when these documents show that?’

Elsom took an equity stake in Narbonne in 2011 and later bought out other investors. He owned 97 per cent of the club for three years before leaving in July 2016.

Narbonne was relegated from France’s second division before entering liquidation in 2018, two years after Elsom’s departure.

Prosecutors argued that decisions made during Elsom’s tenure had placed the club under severe financial strain and contributed to its later collapse. Elsom disputes that finding and rejects the connection drawn.

Elsom told Fordham that the club’s on-field results following his departure contributed to its later financial difficulties. 

‘It’s just more saying how long will it take them to walk away from that,’ he said of the remaining conviction.

Elsom also repeated his claim that he had not been notified about the original trial, which proceeded in his absence in October 2024. 

‘I think the the big thing to point out is they went to great lengths to hide this trial,’ he said.

‘The trial is largely unlawful because of that.’

He argued that the alleged failure to notify him remained a fundamental and unanswered issue. 

‘And two years on I said it in the beginning, but it was hard to believe, two years on, still crickets from the prosecutor.’

Asked directly by Fordham whether he had misused corporate funds or assets, Elsom replied: ‘No.’

 He also disputed the basis of the forgery allegations that were later dismissed. 

‘So the forgery didn’t meet the definition of forgery,’ he said.

‘I signed my name on the date.

‘End of story, of course, they withdrew it.

‘But that was for the headlines.’

Elsom claimed his early success at Narbonne had caused friction with some people previously involved in running the club. 

‘Well, they took a big step back when I arrived because I was 30 years old, and the club was in a very bad financial position, and they just didn’t think it was gonna work,’ he said.

‘So they took a very public step back.

 ‘But in that season, we broke every record in the club’s history.’

The outstanding arrest warrant continues to restrict his movements.

When Fordham asked whether he could be arrested if he travelled to Europe, Elsom said he would be, specifying: ‘In the European Union, yeah.’

Elsom has previously said he would return to France to explain himself if he could do so without being imprisoned while awaiting the outcome of his appeal. 

His defence has received public backing from French winemaker and former Narbonne president Gerard Bertrand, who was involved with the club during Elsom’s tenure.

Speaking in July this year, Bertrand disputed the suggestion that Elsom was responsible for the financial collapse that followed his departure.

‘The reason why we didn’t make it [financially] is not related to Rocky,’ Bertrand said.

Bertrand said a proposed injection of investment after relegation could have kept the club afloat, but the board instead voted to file for bankruptcy.

Fordham asked Elsom why he did not simply avoid the European Union and get on with his life in Australia.

Elsom said he still wanted answers about how the original proceedings had been handled.

‘I wanna hear why he went to such great lengths to keep the arrest warrant and the existence of the trial from me before the trial,’ he said of the prosecutor.

‘I’ve got no personal issue with him, so why did he think that was a good idea?’

The Daily Mail has contacted Racing Club Narbonne for comment.

Despite the unresolved appeal, Elsom said he remained hopeful about his future.

‘Well, like I said, you don’t know how things are going to turn out, I wouldn’t have chosen this way, but, you know, something good comes from it.’