And we thought football was full of cheating…

In a previous post, I had a minor moan about footballers diving. Truth is; every sport has it’s scandals and cheats. Football has diving, bad language, poor role models off the pitch and failed drug tests. Even Formula 1 has drivers doing reckless acts with their cars off the track- Lewis Hamiliton being warned on more than one occasion. And while I dislike to admit it- rugby has more than it’s fair share of ‘bad boys’.

In the current era of rugby, you’d expect cheating and foul play on the field to be at a minimum. The refs  keep a keen eye out, they have two assistants that can intervene in play at any minute, and a video ref can spot pretty much any action happening on and off the ball- and is often used for incidents which require a player to face a disciplinary board. So why is it still done? And especially in this era where young players rely more and more on inspirational individuals to shape their futures and encourage them to achieve.

South Africa’s Schalk Burger is a prime example of this behaviour. Time after time he has received bans for indecent behaviour on the pitch- his main crime? Eye gouging. It’s a cowards way of attempting to maim an opposition. To intentionally stick your fingers in someone’s eye sockets is in my eyes a disgusting attempt at cheating. To be fair to the IRB they deal with 99% of cases. But I still sometimes feel that the punishments are not enough. Burger has received punishments around 8 weeks, but still continues to re-offend. So churn them up a bit. There must be a deterrent at this stage, else players of all ages are going to be at it- 8 year-olds across the world are going to be receiving slapped wrists for doing it soon enough, because lets face it you can’t stick them up in front of a disciplinary board. The high profile players have got to be fair on the pitch and be role models for the future players.

 

Burger was banned for eight weeks following this eye gouge on Luke Fitzgerald when the British and Irish Lions toured South Africa in 2009. He later refused to apologise for his actions.

Further offences on the pitch come in the form of illegal tackling. Reckless offences that can, in such a contact sport, end in serious injuries. It’s too difficult to list a number but the one that sticks out in my mind is, again, on a Lions tour. This time back in 2005 when captain of the All Blacks that day, Tana Umaga and prop Kevin Mealamu totally up-ended Irishman Brian O’Driscoll and seemingly power drove him (head/neck first) into the ground. Now this would have been a  bad tackle, if O’Driscoll had been in possession of the ball. But he wasn’t. The ball was 15 metres away, in the hands of an All Black on the attack. Umaga and Mealamu up-ended the Irishman following a ruck- which had ended, therefore all contact should have been. This ended O’Driscoll’s tour, 41 seconds into the first test. Fair?

There was outrage across the rugby world. And Umaga even had the cheek to re-open the feud in 2007 with the release of his biography when he referred to O’Driscoll as a ‘sook’ which is New Zealand slang for a ‘cry baby’.

To escape with nothing, was a mockery to the sport. The attack was malicious. It was intended. But went unpunished. Disgrace?

What is happening of late however is incidents off the pitch. And with the media so close behind every bad decision made it’s near impossible to escape without the whole world knowing.

Northampton Saints’ Ben Foden was recently the topic of talk for off the pitch stupidity as he was arrested and cautioned following an incident in central London after celebrating their victor over the Wasps a fortnight ago. Details hit the papers immediately, but not extensively as it has not been released what exactly happened- just that he has been cautioned.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-1372656/England-Ben-Foden-cautioned-police-bust-taxi-driver.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Through it all- should players really be allowed to get away with murder? Harsher punishments would, in most circumstances, see the rate of these offences reduced, and would most definitely provide a much better environment for for the sport to succeed and create the correct environment for the youth of today to follow.

On a less serious note- and where it’s not an illegal offences; One just for laughs…

 

~ by healthylivingheavylifting on 06/04/2011.