Robshaw so honest in messy Marland affair
The saga of Marlon Yarde’s ignominious departure from Quins, and his move to Sale, finally got resolved last week, and it’s probably good business for both clubs. If Yarde’s face no longer fits at the Stoop then it’s better that he’s gone, and if the stories of lateness and missing training are true, then there couldn’t be a better man to resolve those than Steve Diamond.
The most gratifying aspect of what was a messy affair was Chris Robshaw coming out and publicly saying that Yarde had ‘run out of lives’ at Quins. Such frankness is refreshing, and I wish we had more of it.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who found Quins director of rugby, John Kingston’s comment that “Marland is a top player and I have a great relationship with him”, to be a bit mystifying. It was clearly so great that his patience ran out, and he effectively fired him!
On one hand Kingston is to be praised for putting the club’s culture ahead of any one player, no matter how talented, but there’s another way of looking at it. Kingston and his coaching team failed in the task of managing Yarde, and that must be frustrating for them.
Events like this happen in every workplace – some employees are easy to manage, and others are a total nightmare. It’s the job of the manager to do what Kingston and his colleagues did, which is fix the situation, or move the employee on. However, if it’s the latter, then that surely reflects on the manager as well as the employee.
Eddie Jones is short of wingers heading into the autumn internationals and there’s speculation that Yarde might get called up. Surely that’s not going to happen? I would have thought that the England head coach would want to see Yarde play a few games for Sale, and then have a quiet word with Diamond.
To do otherwise would be a bit of a smack in the face for the Quins management, as it would say that their actions were regarded by him as being irrelevant. Maintaining a decent relationship with the DoR’s of the Premiership clubs has to be part of Jones’ job spec, and we know from the Denny Solomona/Manu Tuilagi incident that he takes a dim view of disciplinary misdemeanours.
One thing’s for certain, Yarde would be well advised to turn up early for every Sale training session. If he does transgress again, I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the player and the Sale director of rugby have their frank exchange of views.
Iused to have a boss who was the archetypal ‘rugger bugger’. At work he was professionalism personified, but after a few beers he’d drop his trousers. Scruffy pub, nightclub, restaurant, they all came alike, and when he was asked why he did it, the answer was that was what the members of his rugby team did – it was their culture, and all new players had to ‘moon’ in public.
In a week when inappropriate behaviour in politics has dominated the headlines, rugby initiation rites have also come to the fore. The RFU have encouraged university students to report any such activities, and the SRU have handed out what were described as ‘draconian’ bans to officials and players of the Howe of Fife rugby club for their horrific ritual of allegedly inserting a bottle where the sun don’t shine!
Two-year bans from playing, and a one-year ban for the officials, don’t sound draconian to me – in my view they’ve got off lightly, as I believe they shouldn’t be allowed near a rugby club again.
The physicality of rugby means it is the epitome of a team game, and welcoming newcomers, and making them feel part of the culture is an important part of that, but there have to be limits. There’s a world of difference between having a few drinks, where the worst that new recruits will suffer is a stinking hangover, and what could be classed as sexual assault.
This kind of behaviour is from the Dark Ages, and thank goodness these practices are being called out.
There is no place in rugby for bullying or for ritual humiliation, even if a player willingly or reluctantly goes along with it. Would you let your child join a club where that kind of thing goes on?