Pantomime fury at drugs cheat Grobler does not reflect well on Irish rugby
Problem of doping won’t be solved by packing off South African
CHEATING still matters. That provides some consolation, however meagre, in a time when talk of cheats feels as thick and pervasive as smog. It was encouraging to see Dele Alli criticised for diving. If Arsene Wenger was trying to irritate Tottenham ahead of yesterday’s derby with Arsenal, his comments about English players now being masters of this trickery, where once it was cast as the sin of despicable foreigners, was well made.
The suspicion of cheating also prompted criticism in the Six Nations. It arose after French players suffering knee problems were subjected to head injury assessments against Ireland. Their problems appeared clear to be leg injuries, especially in the case of out half Matthieu Jalibert, yet the independent match doctor, who was French, decreed that they should undergo HIAs.
An inquiry into the incidents is ongoing, and it appears there was no attempt at sharp practice on the part of the French team medics.
However, the French have form in this regard. Against Wales in last year’s Six Nations, they replaced Uini Atonio, citing a HIA, enabling them to reintroduce Rabah Slimani, a brilliant scrummager.
Atonio told the referee he had a sore back rather than a head injury.
The French were reprimanded then and while an outcome is awaited in this controversy, it was understandable that people were suspicious in the Stade de France.
Integrity matters. Rules matter. And that is why cheating still matters.
It is the word that will follow dopers to their graves. Using drugs to gain an illicit advantage remains a taboo in sport, and even if an athlete serves their suspension and rehabilitates themselves, the word cheat is burned into their bones.
The possibility of a second chance for dopers is not one to dismiss lightly, depending on the circumstances of a case. The concept of justice relies in part on the possibility of the wrongdoer recognising their behaviour and correcting it.
There has not been much appetite for that kind of talk in the case of Gerbrandt Grobler, who was due to make his debut for Munster last night in a match against Zebre at Thomond Park.
The announcement of the Munster team on Friday afternoon kindled the flames of righteousness that consumed this debate in recent weeks.
Grobler is a South African second row signed by Munster on a oneyear contract last summer, from Racing in Paris.
He joined Racing at the end of a two-year ban imposed after a failed drug test, in which the anabolic steroid drostanolone was detected.
There has been uproar at the thought of a player caught doping wearing the Munster jersey. Fans of the province have been equally vociferous in defending their man.
Munster and the IRFU have been in a flap trying to explain why he was signed, and there has been a great deal of talk about a zero tolerance approach to doping in Irish rugby.
Much of what has been said is claptrap, nothing more than pantomime posturing and empty bellowing.
There have been calls for Grobler to be packed on the next flight to South Africa, as if he is carrying a virus that could infect the strapping, young sons of Erin who are forced to share a pitch with him.
One consolation is that the tenor of the reaction to Grobler’s debut indicates an aversion to cheating in rugby, and specifically doping.
Presumably we can count on this level of outrage when an Irish player next fails a doping test?
Too often in the past in this country, there has been shameful equivocation over this particular offence, because the guilty person happened to be Irish. Foreigners were blamed in those situations for their wickedness in suggesting one of us could be capable of anything so dirty and lowdown.
This case cannot be solved by packing Grobler off to be someone else’s problem, though. We know that Munster and the IRFU were aware of his record, a point confirmed by Philip Browne. They clearly did not anticipate the reaction his signing eventually drew, and don’t expect to see a player with a doping offence in his past signed by an Irish province in the future.
This won’t solve the problem of doping in rugby, though. Cheating is repugnant, but Grobler signed for Munster having served his ban. If he deserved a second chance, he is as entitled to it in Ireland as anywhere else.
Driving him out will not make Irish rugby purer. His time here is unlikely to extend past this season, but when he leaves the dangers of doping will not go with him.