I found this post on news24. It was written by a blogger called “The GreenMan”. It’s worth a read. The rugby world has seen some disappointing and ugly incidents this year. I hope these incidents do not lead to a trend where players, coaches and supporters take the law into their own hands.  It is not good for rugby’s image at all. We want to take rugby to all nations and incidents like these give rugby a bad reputation.

Greenman only names his top 10 incidents, but there were also other dispicable incidents like the school fight in New Zealand, the school fight between Monument and Noordheuwel where Springbok Ian Mcdonald punched a linesman and also the supporter in Kimberley who threw a glass of brandy and coke (or only coke?) into the face of referee Willie Roos. The incident eventually led to Roos’s retirement. All of  this in 2009! Incidents like some of these mentioned in the article should never happen again!

On Saturday Schalk Burger and Matt Giteau will take to the field in the 6th Tri-Natons clash of 2009 and I could not help but think that both of them should have really still been on the sidelines. What occurred to me then is that 2009 has already been quite a shameful year for the sport that is Rugby Union, and there is still lots of rugby to be played.

Taking into account the incidents that I am aware of, below is my top 10 most shameful rugby incidents of 2009. Feel free to let me know of others that I have left off the list that may well deserve to be there. As with any list it is always difficult to decide what should make the list. The Lions tour for example had many incidents that went unpunished but I have obviously highlighted the ones I thought were the worst. Even more difficult is what the order of merit should be. In my infinitie wisdom (NOT!) I gave it a crack anyway …

10) Bad Attitude Lions!

The British & Irish Lions team, management and British media really got my goat over the 2009 tour of South Africa. It has been a very long time since I have been so annoyed at such a blatant display of bad sportsmanship, sour grapes and outright arrogance. And all this without too much reason either. This just makes it into the top ten because I think it is shameful for any nation to behave this way!

9) O’Driscol tackle on Danie Rossouw

I believe Brian O’Driscol is one of the dirtiest rugby players on the planet and his tackle on Danie Russouw was simply further testament to this. What irked me most is when he got back to his own shores and had far too much to say about the Springboks generally as well as De Villiers’ comments in the media. Granted PDV had a bit of a brain freeze in the Burger aftermath, which is why he also finds himself on this list, but a little rich for BOD to offer any criticism me thinks!

8) Giteau on Fourie Du Preez

This should have been an outright ban! Gitaeu should not be playing tomorrow and should not have played last week. It was obvious to anyone with half a brain cell that his tackle on Du Preez was malicious and very unsportsmanlike. An absolute disgrace!

7) Andrew Sheridan going ‘below the belt’

Sheridan suddenly thought he was playing a game of table tennis when he decided to give Andries Bekker a bit of a ball slap. He very quickly put his arms in the air all innocently but the cameras do not lie. How about that citing commissioner then! Some Englishmen have been quick to jump up and say it is much ado about nothing as it was natural movement and he couldn’t see where his hand was going. Surely we could say the same about Schalk? Obvious to the eye … click here to check it out again.

6) Bakkies Ban and the Armband Protest

Absolutely atrocious that Bakkies even initially got banned for this. Even worse though is that the ban was not overturned taking into account that the opposition were also a little bamboozled as to what Bakkies had actually done wrong. The shame in this incident was two-fold. Firstly that it even took place, and secondly that the Boks chose to protest in the way that they did. The merits of the protest are obviously up for debate and I change my mind on that one from one day to the next but I think the fact there was even cause for it to take place is disgraceful.

5) IRB inconsistency and dictatorship

One good thing from the armband protest was that it truly highlighted the incompetence, inconsistency, arrogance and dictatorship that is the IRB. It seems that the decisions made by these guys and all the sub-committees they form are based on personal preference. They are a joke and 2009 has really brought this fact into the limelight. There are simply too many blunders to mention.

4) De Villiers PR blunders

I must admit that I was, like many, initially sceptical about PDV but I have grown to believe in the man and the decisions he makes. One or two strategic blunders aside I do think he is the man for the job. That does not take anything away from the fact that he made an absolute ass of himself and South Africa with his ridiculous comments in the media during the BIL tour. I don’t think he was truly condoning eye-gouging but he certainly chose his words to indicate that he was. I think this was truly a shameful incident for South African Rugby and South Africa in general and could have been managed a lot better, not only by the coach but more importantly by the SA Rugby media team.

3) Eye Gouging incidents

I have always seen Schalk Burger has a hard rugga player, not a dirty one, so I am not sure what the hell was going on in his head when he decided to say howzit to Fitzgeralds eyes. There is no excuse! The British media took this one to the cleaners calling the Boks thugs and more. Perhaps they forgot about Alan Quinlan of Munster missing out on the Lions tour because of the same offense? In 2009 alone four players have beeen found guilty of eye gouging. One from the Southern Hemisphere. The fact that eye gouging has no place in Rugby Union is beyond contestation. Out of interest click here to see a list of players found guilty of eye gouging. The list has obviously not been updated yet to include the Burger incident.

2) Heidelburg Rugby Club

An absolute disgrace! I am certain this kind of occurence is far more rife in club rugby in SA than most people realise. There is really nothing more to say about this one. Truly a bunch of thugs who should get in a boxing ring … while in prison! Click here to watch the incident, though I am sure most of you will have seen it already.

1) The ‘Bloodgate’ scandal

I debated with myself which of the top 3 should actually be at number 1. The thing that put this to the top of the list for me is that it was blatant, pre-meditated cheating and disgustingly sinister. All the incidents above were mostly ‘heat of the moment’ acts in which there must have been a ‘brain freeze’ milisecond.

For those of you who may not know, Harlequins coach Dean Richards has been banned internationally for 3 years from any involvement in rugby union. The incident that revealed what had been occurring was the blood injury faked by Tom Williams in the Heineken Cup semi-final. This was to enable Nick Evans, the clubs specialist kicker, to go back onto the field in the final moments of the game. The worst part for me is that this was all pre-meditated as they had a test tube of blood for Williams to fake his bleeding with. It has been said that this is not the first time this has taken place at the club.

The ‘Bloodgate’ scandal puts Rugby Union in the gutter and has done absolutely nothing to help the cause to grow this wonderful game!

Hopefully the rest of 2009 will restore some pride to this wonderful and highly entertaining game.

A bit of housekeeping to end with again … Boks to win by 10, and Cheetahs to take their revenge on a spiralling Griquas team and win by at least 20.

Later
TheGreenMan