“A lot of patients don’t even know that I played Rugby”: we had a coffee with Jérome Gallion, dentist in Toulon and RCT legend

The world is small. And that of Rugby even more.

At the edge of the pitch, in the staff, or in front of the cameras, it is common to find former players. But some, whether they had to cope without the advantages of professionalism (and therefore worked alongside sport) or whether they benefited from them, chose very different paths.

In this series, Var-Matin invites you to return to the “other lives” of several former RCT players, between double careers and unusual reconversions. Watch the first episode today.

In Toulon, in his office on Boulevard de Strasbourg, only a small frame hanging on a wall echoes his rich career as a rugby player. Jérôme Gallion readily admits: “A lot of patients don’t even know I played rugby.”

Because if the former brain of the RCT is certainly a big name in his sport, his well-made head also led him to excellent medical studies.

At the time, the oval had not yet experienced the upheaval of professionalism. And little Jérôme, with his baccalaureate, wants to go into the medical sector. Besides, he is also passionate about rugby and wears the lily of the valley jersey.

“I tried to reconcile the two, but without one being able to alter the otherhe explains today. In fact, being competitive on the field also meant learning to be competitive in life. Rugby taught me to be tenacious.”

At the University of Marseille, the kid quickly gets “hot notes”. From the foot of Faron to La Canebière, he divides his time between classes, homework, “entire evenings sculpting teeth” and the green rectangle.

So almost everyone in college doesn’t know he’s playing at a high level. “They learned about it when they saw me on television”laughs the Toulonnais, for whom the 1976-1977 season will be a pivotal period.

He actually gained playing time with the first team and went on tour with the French team… while obtaining his doctor of dental surgery diploma.

“For half a point, I had to take an oral exam again. Except that I was summoned the day I had to be on the plane to Argentina with the Blues. I told the head of the department. He told me had replied: “Are you going to play with Rives, Skrela and Paparemborde? OK for tomorrow morning, 8am.” He thought I was making fun of him! I had studied until 2 a.m. and, at the end of the oral, he wished me good luck. He had made inquiries in the meantime… (laughs).”

“A point of honor to do both well”

The thesis and military service will follow, at Sainte-Anne hospital. The only advantage granted: fewer working weekends, to allow him to lead the RCT game, in Mayol or across the country.

It was finally in 1978 that Gallion opened his dental practice in the city center. “I was there at 7:30 a.m. and finished at 5 or 6 p.m. to go to training. And, the more we progressed, the more there were!” In this, “compartmentalizing the two activities was extremely beneficial”.

During the day, his job as a dentist causes him mental fatigue. And in the evening, the little hinge player lets off steam on the meadow. “I admit, there were perhaps two or three tours of the French team that I didn’t do because I was exhausted and I had to work in the office. But, at the time, how say it?”

Especially since if Gallion the rugby player was respected, Gallion the dentist often had to prove himself: “As I hung around the fields, many people thought I had gotten my diploma in a lucky bag. But I made it a point to do both well.”

He stuck to this principle until the end of his sporting career, in 1989. He then became “a little difficult not to have the competition anymore”.

To improve his skills, the ex-player returns to college. Then continues to treat, until today. “I was lucky to know that I no longer had rugby, but that I still had that”he concludes, with a smile on his lips, before going to take care of his faithful patients.

Find a new episode of our series next week.