Tonight:
4°c
A couple of seasons ago I was in the hospitality lounge at a top football ground.
Before the game, two former players took questions from the audience. One of them was: “Lads, what do you prefer, dogging or roasting?” Later the same week, I went to a rugby match at Twickenham, again, courtesy of someone else. The players came round the tables and chatted freely. The contrast between the two codes, I thought then, could not have been greater.
The rugby boys were articulate, intelligent and courteous. They all seemed imbued with the spirit of the game, with a sense of fair play. Now, after the horrors of Harlequins, I'm not sure if that is any longer the case. Somehow, we're used to the cynicism and disregard of footballers. We witnessed the sly wink from Cristiano Ronaldo to his bench during the 2006 World Cup when he managed to get Wayne Rooney sent off.
Then, we saw Tom Williams, the Quins player, also wink to his coaches as he left the field, his mouth covered in blood, in the Heineken Cup against Leinster. And we didn't know what it meant. We do now. A carefully hatched plan to see a Quins member fake a blood injury to allow a specialist kicker to come on as a substitute had clearly worked. What we now realise is that to make the wound appear genuine, Williams had to submit to having his mouth cut immediately afterwards with a scalpel. And, following last night's European Rugby Cup disciplinary hearing, that Dean Richards, the Quins director of rugby, had allegedly been involved in four such similar incidents in the past.
This isn't one-off cheating, this sounds like institutionalised cheating. To deliberately injure one of your side, so that he requires stitching, is perverse. In his autobiography, the great Lawrence Dallaglio casually mentions how Bath pulled the same stunt using tomato ketchup so that Jon Callard could get on to the pitch and kick against Dallaglio's Wasps in 1997. Says Dallaglio: “Fair play to Bath, they bent the rules. But hey-ho, you do what you have to to win.”
In 2001, Richard Cockerill, the Leicester coach and ex-England player, told how stitches in his finger were ripped to fake a blood injury. His claim was not pursued by the authorities. What is especially alarming is the reaction to the Williams case. Last night, after being banned for three years, Richards said: “I'm surprised. Three years is a long time but I'll reflect on it overnight. I took full responsibility for it. It was a farcical situation, it really was.”
In a letter to Harlequins fans that is breathtaking in its insouciance, Mark Evans, the club's chief executive, says: “Some of you will feel that manipulation of the substitution, uncontested scrums and sin binning rules are so widespread in the game that this case has been blown out of all proportion.” He then goes on to state how one episode should not negate the club's community scheme. This would be the same community scheme that sees children tutored in the art of rugby in the hope that they can follow their heroes, Williams and Richards.
While Williams, Richards and physio Stephen Brennan have been banned, incredibly, Evans is still in post. Also, for now, pending a decision by the ERC, Harlequins remain in the lucrative European competition. Sponsors should vote with their wallets. Fans, too, if they can see sense. Harlequins may be right when they suggest such behaviour occurs elsewhere at the top of the game. That doesn't make it right. The point is they were caught and an example should be set to discourage the rest. This means they should be banned from Europe. Unless, of course, rugby really wants to get into the gutter alongside football
Reader views (4)
Man I am shocked at the ignorant statements about American Football...Mr London when you insult American Football you are almost literally insulting America. Football is the heart and soul of America, the sport may look and appear different from what you are used too but I think you should take the time to get to know the game and the people who appreciate this sport before making comments as you have...many Americans, ignorant of rugby, laugh at the game critisizing it to be way to weak of a sport to stomach. I tell them the same as I am telling you, dont judge a sport you dont understand.
- Tina Nickerson, Jenks, oklahoma, usa, 15/09/2009 09:10
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If rugby goes down the soccer route the two games will converge at some point in the near future, and nobody will care any more. The same thing happened in football.
- Mark, Venice, Italy, 18/08/2009 22:34
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“Lads, what do you prefer, dogging or roasting?”
- Disgusting, I hope the responsible party was taken to one side and spoken to after this comment ?
- Dixon Kipretich, Ugley, Essex, 18/08/2009 11:14
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Unfortunately I think you are both right and a little late. We see more and more evidence that rugby is going happily down the soccer route. Playing music so that fans can gloat over scoring, booing opposing teams, unabashed commercialism that prices real fans out and as you mention the win at all costs mentality. Is this a price worth paying for a faster 'more entertaining' game? I don't think so. Just look at the sham that is American football, that's where we're headed is we're not careful
- Mark, London, 18/08/2009 10:35
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