INSIDE THE ALL BLACKS SPYING SCANDAL
Rugby world aghast at revelations of spying before Bledisloe clash.
Police investigating rugby’s spying scandal have turned on All Black bosses and their delay in reporting the discovery of a bug.
The listening device was last night being examined by New South Wales Police forensic experts after it was found in the All Blacks’ team room in their Sydney hotel.
It was uncovered during a security sweep of the room on Monday but wasn’t reported to police until yesterday.
Asked whether the five-day delay made the investigation tougher, Superintendent Brad Hodder said “any delay in any investigation’s always tough but we’ll look at that information”.
“We will be looking at all avenues and what part of the legislation it comes under, in particular . . . telecommunications offences and the Devices Listening Act.” The device — the sort used by law enforce- ment and spying agencies — was planted in a chair at the Double Bay InterContinental Hotel, where the team have been since Sunday.
New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew said it was likely to have recorded a team meeting.
The revelation sent shockwaves around the rugby world and is likely to force an investigation by the governing body. World Rugby declined to comment last night.
After last night’s Bledisloe match, attention will today turn to who planted it. Hodder said police had no theories. The hotel is also investigating how it happened.
Australian Rugby Union chief Bill Pulver told the Herald on Sunday the ARU had no involvement in the scandal and both unions had handed the incident over to police.
He was concerned it had come to light “on match day”.
Former coach Sir Graham Henry told the Herald on Sunday he was shocked. However, he said there had been spying in the past with videoing of training or taking notes.
“That sort of thing has happened in world rugby before, let’s be frank about that. But I’ve never heard of bugging before.”
He revealed All Black management had employed security advisors to check for breaches — including listening devices — since at least 2004.
All Black great Sir John Kirwan described it as a “sad day for rugby”.
“It’s really important we get to the bottom of who did it and make sure that they’re punished accordingly. It’s bringing the game into disrepute.”
Australian police forensics experts were last night analysing the sophisticated listening device discovered in the All Blacks’ team room ahead of their Bledisloe Cup clash against the Wallabies.
In a spying scandal that threatens to rock international rugby, the
Herald revealed yesterday the device, similar to the sort used by law enforcement and spying agencies, had been planted in a chair in the Sydney hotel where the team had been staying in the lead-up to last night’s test.
The foam of the seat appeared to have been deliberately and carefully cut to make way for the surveillance device and then sewn or glued back together to be almost undetectable.
It was discovered on Monday after team management asked the security detail looking after them in Australia to sweep the room for bugs.
New South Wales police are investigating how the device was planted in the All Blacks’ team room at the InterContinental Hotel in Double Bay — and just who placed it there.
As the forensic experts examined the device — at the same time the All Blacks took to Sydney’s ANZ Stadium — police were also investigating why it took several days for New Zealand Rugby to come forward after they found the device.
Police have also appealed for any information about who was respon- sible for the planting of the bug.
Under Australian federal law it is an offence to knowingly use a listening device to record a private conversation.
NZR chief executive Steve Tew said the Australian Rugby Union had been informed and the investigation had been handed over to Australian police.
“There was an All Blacks team meeting there earlier in the week,” Tew said.
“If the device was working properly, and we don’t know that for sure, then they would have overheard that.”
ARU boss Bill Pulver categorically denied the Australian union had any involvement in the bugging of the All Blacks.
If the device was working properly, and we don’t know that for sure, then they would have overheard that. Steve Tew
“It is completely ludicrous. I just think it’s a ludicrous concept that there are listening devices being placed in team rooms. I don’t know how that could happen.
“I’m utterly disappointed the story would break on match day and frankly, that’s all I’ve got to say,” Pulver said.
“I simply don’t know the background but I’m clearly disappointed it gets out to the media on the day of a Bledisloe Cup match.”
The Herald on Sunday has been told hiding the device was a highly skilled and meticulous act and whoever put it there would have needed a significant amount of time to have pulled off such an accomplished job.
Wherever the All Blacks stay, they are allocated a room where the players can gather and where private meetings about strategy, tactics and selection can take place.
This room is always clearly marked as private, is usually roped off or inaccessible to anyone other than players and management and sometimes has security personnel monitoring the entrance.
If the device was planted with the intention of listening into the All Blacks, then whoever was trying to do that would also have needed to have known which room to place the chair and have been able to get it in there undetected.
The All Blacks — coached by Steven Hansen, a former police officer — have been aware over the years of various attempts to spy on them while they have been training.
As the scandal broke, former Wallaby and World Cup winner Matt Burke told Veitch on Sport the revelations were a “turning point in what we thought was a pure game”.
Although people would need to wait for the outcome of the police investigation, he hoped Australian rugby authorities were not involved.