Bloodgate was brazen – with comic moments
Brendan Gallagher continues his enthralling series by looking at rugby’s biggest scandals
1. Bloodgate (2009)
Scandals come and go but this is the one that still resonates, a strange mix of outand-out cheating in the heat of battle with the hint of an old school prank that nearly worked and even a few comic elements although it all got very serious once Quins’ wrong-doing was discovered.
Quins were trailing 6-5 at home to Leinster in a Heineken Cup quarterfinal – their biggest game in the modern era – and they needed to get ace goal kicker and drop-goal merchant Nick Evans back on after he had come off in the 47th minute with a thigh strain. Even on one leg he could still win them the match. So when replacement fly-half Chris Malone also went off injured word went out from Dean Richards that Tom Williams needed to go down injured. Physio Steve Brennan attended and passed on a couple of fake blood capsules, purchased from a joke shop at Clapham Junction. At the hearing it was claimed Quins had pulled this stunt on at least four occasions.
Williams bit into the capsule and suddenly blood was pouring from his mouth as if he had been ten rounds with Mike Tyson. He departed with an idiotic stage wink which the TV cameras caught and Leinster were jumping up and down sensing some nonsense. Nor did the fact that they won the game mollify them in any way.
Richards tried to brazen it out but there had been more. When Quins realised Leinster were on to them the team doctor Wendy Chapman was prevailed upon to make a little nick inside Williams’ mouth with a scalpel to draw real blood. This was now getting ridiculous and although the disciplinary procedure was long and torturous all concerned eventually copped it. Richards was banned for three years, Brennan for two and Williams for 12 months later reduced to four. Chapman was warned of her future conduct by the BMC. The club were fined £260,000 but curiously allowed to compete in the competition the following year.
2. Spearing of Brian O’Driscoll and NZ cover up (2005)
A double whammy this. First there was the horrendous and seemingly premeditated double lift and tipping of the Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll by All Blacks captain Tana Umaga and hooker Keven Mealamu after just 41 seconds into the first Test at Christchurch in 2005.
As the duo completed the so called clearout, the ball was already in the hands of Richie McCaw, standing as first receiver. Rugby just didn’t come into it. That was bad enough but there was more. The South African citing officer was on the plane home before dawn the next morning, then came the shocking cover up from the NZRU who were determined that in particular their All Blacks skipper was not going to get the long ban he deserved. No apology, no conceding by Graham Henry that there had even been an incident. It was all a bit surreal and sinister.
It was all O’Driscoll’s fault apparently for picking up a piece of grass at the haka and looking at a Kiwi the wrong way. Then it was all spin doctor Alastair Campbell’s fault for using his dastardly political techniques to enflame the whole situation. It was just a diversion from a poor Lions performance.
Alas some of the British Press even fell for that, let alone the Kiwis. On it raged for weeks, months and years and then in 2017 – on the eve of the Lions’ next New Zealand tour – the NZRU stunned all concerned by admitting a great wrong had been done to O’Driscoll and it was time to bury the hatchet. An incident that takes 12 years before you can even admit it? That has to be pretty bad.
3. Grannygate (2000)
Qualifying to play for a country via a ‘Granny’ had long been a cliche in the game but coach Graham Henry and Wales took it to absurd levels when they brazenly picked Kiwis Shane Howarth – who had arrived at Sale claiming English ancestry – and Brett Sinkinson. Neither had a drop of Welsh blood nor any documentary evidence yet both became regulars for Wales before the fraud was exposed. The WRU escaped with a ridiculously light £10,000 fine while all their results when the duo were playing were allowed to stand. After the ban Sinkinson continued playing in Wales and eventually won another cap after qualifying by residency.
4. Disgraced Keith Murdoch goes walkabout (1972)
Murdoch was a wild west character and Kiwi hardman who got into hot water for punching security officer Peter Grant at the Angel Hotel late in the night after the Kiwis had beaten Wales. He was sent home by manager Ernie Todd in disgrace – against the wishes of the players – switched flights in Singapore and headed for Perth and the outback.
There he worked on the rigs for a while, returned to the family farm in Otago for a short spell before finally heading for North Queensland where he worked as a tuna fisherman or just went walkabout. In 2001 he appeared in court, as a witness, when the authorities were looking into the mysterious death of an aborigine man, Christopher Kumanjai Limerick. Murdoch died in 2018.
5. Battles of Brive (1997)
Absolutely hum dinging mass brawl as it all kicked off between Brive and an exceptionally feisty Pontypridd in a quite brilliant Heineken Cup game – Brive won 32-31 – that is remembered these days only for the fight. The argybargy had started in the tunnel before the game but although I was there, I can’t recall the spark which started the actual on-field fight. From memory only Martyn Williams and Brive full-back Sebastien Viars declined to get involved. When the dust settled Dale ‘chief ’ McIntosh and Brive flanker Lionel Mallier were sent off with McIntosh gesturing wildly to the incensed crowd as he marched off.
Then came the ‘afters’ at Le Bar Toulzac where the players swapped stories and war wounds. Then – and accounts from both sides vary – it all kicked off with Phil John and Philippe Carbonneau the initial combatants. Glasses and stools were thrown, it was mayhem and the police arrived to clear the premises. Carbonneau and Christophe Lamaison required hospital treatment and the following morning French police arrived at the team hotel with No.8 McIntosh, hooker John and centre Andre Barnard being prevented from flying home to help them with their enquiries.
McIntosh, although heavily implicated in the on-field battle, was by all subsequent accounts not involved in the bar room brawl, Neil Jenkins dragging him outside and out of harm’s way. Eventually Ponty were fined £30,000 with £15,000 suspended, and the trio barred from playing in the quarter-final a few weeks later – against Brive!
6. Oh Calcutta (1988)
It must have been a quiet news week in March 1988 because the flattening of the Calcutta Cup into the Calcutta plate by John Jeffrey and Dean Richards during an impromptu late night kick around of the trophy down Princes Street caused a huge furore and demands for life bans and the like. There was a £1,000 repair bill in fairness and in the end England banned Richards for just one Test – the next game against Ireland – while the canny Scots slapped a six-month ban on the great white shark which sounded harsh but their next game, against Australia, was eight months away!
7. Spain and Romania kicked out of World Cup
A multi-layered controversy from which very few escaped criticism. Romania incorrectly fielded centre Sione Faka’osilea who had appeared briefly for Tonga in a world series competition in their World Cup qualifiers but claimed he had been cleared by Rugby Europe.
Spain fielded two French-born play
ers who had Spanish grandparents and spoke Spanish themselves, but both had played for France U20 in a season when France U20 was a capture team. In the case of Mathieu Belie it had been ten years previously and again Spain insisted Rugby Europe had given them the go ahead. And then – before all this came out – there was the explosive game between Belgium and Spain in Brussels which strong favourites Spain needed to win to qualify automatically. Romania would qualify if Spain lost and the all Romania refereeing team – which Spain had objected to weeks in advance – proceeded to ping them off the park as Belgium claimed a shock win. And did I mention Belgium were also fielding a handful of ineligible players!
8. Saracens salary cap beach
The rise and fall of England’s most successful club who, in an attempt to match better funded French teams and keep their homegrown star players, breached the Prem Rugby salary cap. The breach centred around investment companies Saracens owner Nigel Wray openly set up with some of Saracens’ bigger names – he thought they were legal and within the regulations but an independent tribunal ruled otherwise.
There was also debate over image rights with Saracens arguing that Maro Itoje was such a big name and England sporting superstar that monies derived from his image rights had little to do with him being a Saracens player, now or in the future. Prem Rugby, who had given Saracens the green light for three years in question, only acted after a newspaper investigation. As there was nothing in their regulations allowing them to relegate a fellow club they had to keep docking Saracens points until it was impossible for them to stay up.
9. Will Carling’s 57 Old farts
Seems utterly ridiculous now but Will Carling’s humorous off-guard comments, recorded after the formal interview by Greg Dyke for a Channel 4 documentary had been completed, caused a huge furore in English rugby on the eve of the ‘95 World Cup. It was front and back-page news and for a short time he was even stripped of the England captaincy before, over a long Bank Holiday weekend, peace negotiations between the RFU and Carling resulted with his reinstatement.
10. The battle of Fenn’s ear
A major if long forgotten cause celebre back in January 1998 when London Scottish flanker Simon Fenn required 25 stitches to sew his ear back together after an incident in Bath’s narrow Cup win over the Exiles. The entire Bath front row – Simon Yates, Victor Ubogu and Freddie Mendez were cited – and eventually Yates was deemed guilty and copped a six-month ban. Gained extra notoriety coming just months after Tyson chewed Evander Holyfield’s ear off.
11. Dwarfgate
England’s run ashore midway through the Pool stages of the 2011 World Cup ended with Mike Tindall – not long wed to Zara Phillips and therefore of heightened media interest – indulging in a bit of dwarf throwing in a well known bar, as you do. Cue a massive media fire storm with coach Martin Johnson initially trying to defend his skipper but it cast a gloom over a lacklustre campaign. It’s odd though. Ireland had enjoyed an even livelier couple of days in Queenstown and not a word was written.
12. England drop Darkie Peters for being black (1906)
An ugly early instance of racism with Peters, the son of a Jamaican lion tamer, dropped ahead of their game with the Springboks who, having encountered him earlier on tour playing for Devon, objected to his playing against them in the Test at Crystal Palace. England, to their eternal shame, dropped their first choice ten.
13. Who kicked Chris Ralston in the head? (1978)
A huge Anglo-Welsh war of words and verbal dust up with the England and Lions lock receiving a kick in the head during Richmond’s game with Llanelli that required 36 stiches. Llanelli axed their entire pack for their next match against Swansea but reinstated them en bloc and nobody was ever disciplined. The two clubs cancelled fixtures but the matter was never resolved.
14. Lawrence Dallaglio sting (1999)
Dallaglio was involved in a News of the
World sting when undercover reporters, allegedly proposing a lucrative sponsorship deal, engaged him in conversation about recreational drugs and claim to have recorded him saying he took and dealt in drugs in his teenage years. Dallaglio argued he was just going along with the tone and ambience of the conversation to clinch the sponsorship deal and totally refuted any allegations concerning dealing. It all seemed horribly contrived and nebulous but the RFU were not impressed. They fined him £15,000 and stripped him of the England captaincy ahead of RWC1999.
15. John Ashworth rearranges JPR’s face (1978)
Bridgend were playing the All Blacks and JPR Williams was at the receiving end of the nasty premeditated stamp to the face, all of it caught by the TV cameras. Williams’ cheek was left lacerated although he played on. There was no disciplinary comeback for Ashworth although when he ran onto the Arms Park a few days later as a replacement against the Barbarians it was to the loudest volley of boos and whistles the famous ground ever witnessed.
16. All that glitters is not Gould
Arthur ‘Monkey’ Gould was the first superstar of Welsh rugby in the late 19th century when he won 27 caps including 18 as captain but his career ended controversially when the WRU and others supported a public collection to raise funds for his retirement. The RFU and IRB reacted swiftly to this, ordering Gould could only be presented with a silver trinket to the value of £100 and the other monies given to charity. The WRU demurred and were banned from international rugby for a year; they were reinstated the following year promising Gould would never be picked again.
17. Izzy Folau (2019)
In April 2019 Folau posted a screenshot of a meme, quoting 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “WARNING Drunks, Homosexuals, Adulterers, Liars, Fornicators, Thieves, Atheists, Idolators HELL AWAITS YOU. REPENT! ONLY JESUS SAVES”. After that it all kicked off with Rugby Australia terminating his contract while Folau sued for unfair dismissal. It all got nasty with Folau at one stage claiming $A14m in loss of earnings before Folau and Rugby Australia issued a joint statement and apology on December 4, 2019 that stated no harm had been intended by either party and that a confidential settlement had been reached.
18. Ballboy is MOM for Wales (2011)
A real howler that still has Ireland fans tearing their hair out. Ireland led 13-9 in Cardiff when Johnny Sexton kicked the bal out so that Wales had a line-out just inside Ireland’s half. Matthew Rees took a quick throw to Mike Phillips, who sprinted down the touchline for a converted try. Rees though had used a ball helpfully and quickly supplied by the Welsh ballboy, not the one last seen in row Z. Ref Jonathan Kaplan asked touch judge Peter Allan if it had been the same ball and Allen wrongly thought it had. As Wales won by six points, these seven ill-gotten points were not unimportant.
19. Jackson does a runner (1908)
Cornwall’s Frederick Stanley Jackson was famously recalled from the 1908 Lions tour of New Zealand – where he was considered the tourists’ best forward – to undergo investigation by the RFU for professionalism but stopped off in Sydney where he vanished for a while. A couple of months later he slipped back to New Zealand to marry a Maori woman. They had four children, one of whom Everard, became a noted All Black prop. When Jackson played Rugby League for Swinton they listed him as Frederick Gabe from Monmouth.
20. Andy Powell’s golf buggy
It’s nice to introduce a little humour into affairs. Powell is/was a popular largerthan-life character, albeit a little eccentric, and in his own mind the decision to borrow a golf cart from Wales’ team hotel in mid-Glamorgan after a long night celebrating victory over Scotland and head for Junction 33 on the M4 and the nearest motorway services to stock up on burgers and fries made perfect sense. Back in the day he could have dined out on it but in the brave new world of professionalism it earned acres of unwanted Press for the WRU and a 14-month driving ban for Powell plus expulsion from the Wales squad. Still makes me smile though.