Something rotten in the state of Rugby
As rugby fans will be well aware, a bit of a scandal is dogging the world of rugby – specifically English club Harlequins, their winger Tom Williams and (now former) Director of Rugby, Dean Richards.
Briefly, during a very important game last season, there was a deliberate, illegal substitution following use of a blood capsule and a scalpel. Cheating, plain and simple, and premeditated at that.
Investigations have been conducted, reports written and punishments handed down. Harsh punishments, some say draconian. 4 months ban for Williams, 3 years for Richards, and £250k fine for the club.
Much has been written about this, rational and otherwise. Will Carling, a Quins man to the core, has been paticularly vocal in his criticism of the punishments and of all the fuss. Carling, a former England Captain, appears to be arguing that cheating has always happened and will always happen, so we shouldn’t make such a fuss.
Sorry Will, but you couldn’t be more wrong. If cheating has always been part of the game (I’m not disputing this) but has been ignored, where has this led? Clearly, the cheating has got worse, has escalated, become increasingly premeditated and employs highly sophisticated techniques. That’s what happens when rule-breaking is ignored: we got away with this last time, so let’s go a bit further, push a bit harder. The logical conclusion: just forget the rules and have a free-for-all. Great idea.
I’m glad to see that rugby’s authorities claim to have a ‘zero tolerance’ policy where cheating is concerned, and these punishments tend to support that claim. The penalties are harsh, certainly, but I’m happy about that. A message is being sent, one of deterrence. It’s natural to want to win, but those who are prepared to cheat must realise the risk they are taking – in this case it’s career-threatening. What other sanction will make them think twice?
We have seen a number of punishments handed out to rugby players in recent months, many associated with the use of ‘recreational’ drugs or failure to comply with drug-testing regimes. Maybe this (along with cheating generally) is not a new phenomena, maybe it’s just that testing is more rigorous and reporting more comprehensive. Rugby is certainly a higher profile sport than 20 years ago. None of this is relevant. As a purist, I say that rugby must strive, at all times and with all possible resources, to be ‘clean’. Teach youngsters to play hard but fair; don’t teach them how to cheat. Insist that senior players set an example, and severely punish those who do not.
Will Carling says he would prefer to “play alongside guys that were willing to cross that line, who had the balls and the backbone to cross that line in the pursuit of success,” in short, people who are prepared to cheat to win. I say that it’s not war (Carling is a former serviceman), it’s sport. His attitude is immoral and represents all that is wrong in sport. He talks about “men who happen to fail every now and then, who happen to make mistakes,” and says that Richards “made a bad call” in this instance. It wasn’t a mistake or a bad call, it was deliberate, calculated cheating in the pursuit of victory. He knew it was wrong but he took the chance it would not be discovered.
It’s this attitude that made me stop playing – I loved the sport but hated the cheating and would have no part of it. I’m a Quins supporter and sad that they didn’t beat Leinster to reach the European Cup Final, but I’m more sad, much more, that they tried to win this way.
It transpires that the Rugby Football Union are investigating four other similar incidents in which Richards & Harlequins are implicated. If true, it makes the punishment seem very appropriate, perhaps even lenient. This kind of behaviour must be stamped out.
Perhaps the International Rugby Board should try to turn the poacher into a gamekeeper. Dean Richards was a great and successful player, shows similar abilities as a coach and commands great respect in the rugby community. He clearly knows the sort of tricks that are likely to be employed on the dark side. He’s unemployed. Why not put him in charge of a ‘clean-up’ squad whose aim would be to root out and punish all types of illegal behaviour and, at the same time, persuade clubs to stop teaching the dark arts.
But thenagain, perhaps he agrees with Carling and wouldn’t be interested.
I like your idea re. Deano and the clean-up squad but it would only work if he actually had the power to do something about it. Would make for excellent IRB PR too.
I agree wholeheartedly with you Al, I think the punishment are fair, if not a little weak. In other sports coaches and players have been banned for life for premeditated cheating.
In this case the powers that be got it right. However they need to get it right all the time and be even handed. During the 2nd lions test SA flanker Burger was sent off (rightly so ) and received a six week ban (a bit weak) for eye gouging, a week and a half ago Australian fly-half Matt Gitaux was sin-binned for 10 minutes with no further action deemed necessary for a blatant and very dangerous off the ball tackle, jumping onto the head of the SA scrum half who was preparing to catch the ball and so was unaware of the incoming Gitaux. This smacks of the tackle on BOD in the 1st lions test 2005 – dangerous & deliberate attempt at removing a potentially match winning player from the game. Fortunatly Fourie du Preez was Ok but he was definitly hurt. If a player is sent off he has to appear in front of a diciplinary panel, the same thing happens if he is cited – surely this should be extended to yellow cards – especially if they’re being handed out for such offenses which in my playing days would have been a sending off.
Agree with you 100%.
The tendency you describe is the visible tip of a deeper moral iceberg (”get away with what you can”) and, as you say, a terrible lesson to teach young people.
@Fin Keegan
How true. We can see it in all aspects of life: sport, business, politics etc. I guess it’s in our genes to a certain extent but runs contrary to the notions of ’society’ and the ‘common good’.