In 2006, Boudjellal brought RC Toulonnais, the rugby team of his hometown, to prominence by bringing in big-name players such as
Sonny Bill Williams and
Tana Umaga, and later others including
Steffon Armitage,
Matt Giteau,
Mathieu Bastareaud,
Bakkies Botha and
Jonny Wilkinson. This has led British rugby commentator
Martin Gillingham to call Toulon a "band of galacticos" (a reference to
Real Madrid's galáctico policy). His tenure saw tremendous commercial success for the club. ESPN Irish rugby journalist Ian Moriarty remarked during the
2012–13 season:« Boudjellal claimed earlier this season that the financial performance of the club meant he no longer needs to put his own cash in. Whatever you think about his penchant for throwing verbal grenades in the media from time to time, his management from a commercial point of view has been impressive. Toulon have increased their turnover by 500% during his tenure, allowing the club to spend right up to the limit of the salary cap. » His time as a leader of TRUC has been "colourful", due to his oftentimes somewhat impetuous behaviour, and use of coarse language. Most notably, he was sentenced to 130-days
ban from
Top 14 organizer
LNR for the following "imaged" outburst after Toulon lost a match against
Clermont-Ferrand in January 2012:« I had my first referee sodomy against Clermont in the semi-finals in
2010. I've just had my second tonight. It's supposed to hurt the first time but it hurts again this time. The images ought to be on
YouPorn instead of
YouTube. » == Hyères takeover ==