Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal welcomes Jonny Wilkinson to the club last summer
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Mourad Boudjellal will celebrate his 50th birthday in June and the rugby club he owns, RC Toulon, is attempting to give him a rather special gift. Peter Bills writes in the Irish Independent
"He's 5ft very little, is the proprietor and publisher of 'Soleil Productions', a comic-book business, and as far as I know, has never played rugby seriously in his life.He's a funny chap, too -- he hovers down on the touchline during matches in a nervous manner and he is never far away from a camera lens.
"...under Boudjallel's ownership, Toulon have done an awful lot more. Off the field, they have galvanised a region once famed for its rugby prowess. Racing Nice, along the Mediterranean coast, were French Championship runners-up in 1983 before disappearing into anonymity -- to an extraordinary extent.
"Last weekend, Toulon moved their home fixture against reigning champions Perpignan from their 13,700-capacity Felix Mayol stadium in the heart of Toulon, to the 60,000-capacity Stade Velodrome in Marseille. 58,250 turned up, a triumph for Toulon-born Boudjallel and what he has achieved at the French naval port town. He's done it chiefly by opening his cheque book very wide indeed. Some of the game's finest players have been lured by the riches on offer."
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