Mathieu Bastareaud – Player Profile
Mathieu Bastareaud is a professional rugby player with the French rugby union and is considered a controversial figure because of his on and off field antics. He has played at the position of centre for teams like France, Toulon, Barbarians and Stade Francais.
Bastareaud was born in September 1988 in Créteil, France. He made his international rugby debut for in the Under-19 team in 2007 under the French umbrella during the Under-19 World Cup in Belfast. Simultaneously, he represented the Creteil Rugby teams and
the team of Massy. His play under Massy earned him a place with the Stade Francais the same year. He was just 20 years old when .
Under Stade, Bastareaud played in the Top 14 tournament. His excellent output earned him a position with France’s national team and a chance at the international arena. The spot he secured was for the Six Nations 2009. He also played in the Stade’s match
against Wales, in which he replaced Maxime Mermoz of Perpignan when he could not play due to an injury. This match turned into a 21-16 victory for the French side. The Stade’s matches against England and Italy also featured the centre.
The end of the year 2009 was however not good for the player. Stade’s 2009 tour of New Zealand and Australia took a bad turn for the player and his 2009 season and the French team had been defeated by the All Blacks. He came back early to France from the
tour of New Zealand, supporting injuries to his face. He alleged that he had been hurt by four or five people, when he was on his way back to the hotel in Wellington. He said that he had just returned to his hotel after spending some time in the city. His
claim was taken under consideration by the New Zealand Police Department. They launched an investigation into the matter and looked up the beating on the Hotel’s outside cameras.
The police did not find any evidence for the player’s claim. On the contrary, they saw when the player had returned to Wellington and he was accompanied by four people; two males and two females. The footage revealed that the player supported no injuries.
After this fact came out, Bastareaud admitted that he had an accident in his room. He revealed that he had tripped off of a table because he was drunk. The story he had told before was made up so that his misconduct would not be punished. As a result of this,
he was sent home without finishing the tour.
The media has iterated that the incident shed light on the security conditions at the Rugby World Cup (RWC) 2011 in New Zealand. This speculation caused John Key, the Prime Minister of New Zealand and the Mayor of Wellington, Kerry Prendergast to apologise
to the French officially. When the real story got out, the French Prime Minister, François Fillon apologised for the behaviour of their player and asked that their ties through the rugby sport not be damaged.
The player came under pressure due to the media, attempted suicide and had to check himself into a psychiatric clinic. An official complaint against Bastareaud was also registered with the French Rugby Federation (FFR). The FFR banned the player for three
months and he was also assigned community service. As a result he did not play any national, international or Test match in 2009.
The year 2010 sparked a change for the player. He was again asked to represent France in the year’s Six Nations. The Six Nations matches were significantly good because of Bastareaud performances, especially against Scotland, Wales and Ireland. He played
in every game and France had a Grand Slam victory. This prompted Stade to offer him a contract extension of three more years.
However, recently the player has joined the French team Toulon for the 2011-2012 season. He is happy to finally have signed on with the Toulon for three years and will be seeing them through the RWC 2011.
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