Multiple Scandals Hit Rugby Union in 2009
Eye Gouging, Drug Taking and Fake Blood Cheating in Rugby
Aug 13, 2009
Rugby has been described as a game for hooligans played by gentlemen whilst football is a game for gentlemen played by hooligans, and for decades the rugby union community has looked down on football and its scandals, (usually with justification). The last eight months, however, has seen a number of high profile incidents which has tarnished rugby’s reputation.
Harlequins Player Fakes Blood Injury
During the Heineken Cup semi final between Harlequins and Leinster, winger Tom Williams, who had replaced injured outside half Nicky Evans was led from the field with blood gushing from his mouth. A heavily strapped Evans returned to attempt a drop goal which would have put Quins in the final.
Williams was subsequently banned for a year for simulating the injury through the use of a vial of theatrical blood. ’Quins were fined £215,000 and even though Director of Rugby Dean Richards was found not guilty, he has since resigned. The Heineken Cup disciplinary officer is appealing the decision to find Richards, team doctor Wendy Chapman and Physiotherapist Steph Brennan not guilty.
There has also been a significant rise in eye gouging, or ‘making contact with the eyes’ as the current euphemism has it. Munster flanker Quinlan missed out on the Lions tour to South Africa because of an incident in the Heineken Cup, Springbok flanker Burger was banned for eight weeks after the second test with the Lions, a sentence he shared with Italian captain Parisse for a similar offence in Italy’s test with the All Blacks.
Bath Players Banned for Drug Taking
Rugby has fared just as badly off the field, with the West Country teams being particular culprits. First, Gloucester centre Mike Tindall was banned from driving for three years after failing a breath test the morning after a trip to the races at Cheltenham, but then, local rivals Bath trumped them with a series of drug problems.
Drug taking in sport is a major concern world wide, but rugby had the reputation of a sport where the players indulged mainly in alcohol. However, In January, England prop Matt Stevens was banned from rugby for two years after admitting taking Cocaine. Three other players, Michael Lipman, Andrew Higgins and Alex Crockett resigned from the club after refusing to take drug tests after the club’s end of season party. They have been banned from the game for nine months and another Bath player, Australian international Justin Harrison was banned for eight months for taking Cocaine. Harrison was also alleged to have shouted into the microphone of the team bus on the way to the party, ‘Class A it’s OK, everyone’s doing it’. Harrison also resigned from Bath Rugby, citing personal reasons.
Bastareaud Faces Three Year Ban
Perhaps the most bizarre story of the Summer relates to young French superstar Bastareaud. The twenty year old Stade Francais centre suffered a suspected fractured eye socket and facial cuts after a night out in Wellington following France’s 2nd test loss against the All Blacks. Bastareaud told team officials and then Wellington Police that he had been the victim of an assault by up to five men. However, he later admitted that he’d fallen over his bedroom table whilst drunk.
Francois Alcugil, president of the French Rugby Union’s disciplinary committee indicated in an interview with French newspaper, ‘Le Parisien’, that the incident could cost Bastareaud his place in the National side for between one and three years, although it would not prevent him playing for his club side.
This incident was considered so embarrassing to the French, that Prime Minister Francois Fillon to send a letter of apology to his New Zealand counterpart.
Rugby has now been a professional sport for nearly fifteen years and the payment of players has allowed them to catch up with other sports in terms of fitness, stamina and strength. Unfortunately, both players and officials seem to be following the lead of other sports in less savoury areas.
With the IRB’s attempts to establish rugby as a global sport, the game is increasingly in the spotlight. Spiralling salaries paid to players attract the sort of attention and headlines once reserved for the round ball game. The players need to remember that the professionalism and commitment they display on the field needs to be reflected off it too.
The long bans handed out to individuals who, ‘bring the game into disrepute’, shows a will on behalf of the games rulers to attack the problem, but there are still too many high profile players who are either not banned for foul play, or who’s time away from the game seems to stop just short of the next international or big club game.
The game is walking a tightrope which the players and administrators must not fall off.
