Rugby player banned over racist remark
AWELSH rugby player has been banned for eight weeks for making a racist comment to an opponent, which led to a match being abandoned.
The player from Blaenau Gwent side Trefil, who has not been named by the WRU, will be able to resume playing from March 23 as he was already suspended by his club.
The incident took place during a League 3 East Central C clash between Trefil and Llanrumney in Cardiff in the first week of January this year.
Llanrumney claimed their centre, Wayne Dacruz, had been racially abused, being called a “black c***”.
That resulted in their players leaving the field in protest, with the game coming to an early end.
Now the case has been heard by a WRU disciplinary panel and punishment handed out.
The panel decided to reduce the ban from 12 weeks to eight, on the grounds that the Trefil player had been significantly provoked and it was “out of character” for him.
In a statement, the WRU said: “Following an incident which took place on January 4, 2020, during a match between Llanrumney RFC and Trefil RFC, which resulted in a player receiving a red card, a WRU disciplinary panel, led by an independent chair, heard the case at Principality Stadium on February 25, 2020.
“The panel issued the player with an eight-week suspension. The player had been sent off for an act of verbal abuse towards an opponent which involved a reference to the opponent’s race.
“Having considered evidence from players belonging to both clubs, the match referee, and following submissions made during the hearing, the panel concluded the offence met the elements of the mid-range suspension under the World Rugby sanctions table which carries a suspension of 12 weeks.
“The panel then reduced the suspension by four weeks due to mitigation factors which included evidence demonstrating the behaviour had resulted following ‘significant provocation’ of the player, evidence suggesting the behaviour was out of character for the player and the fact the player has a good disciplinary record over his 20-year playing career.
“In determining the date of expiry of the suspension, the panel took into account the interim suspension that had been imposed by Trefil RFC since January 4, 2020, and in light of forthcoming scheduled matches, the player is suspended from participating in the game of rugby union until up to and including March 22, 2020.
“He is therefore free to play from Monday, March 23, 2020 onwards.
“There is no place for abuse of any kind in rugby union.”
The incident happened at the Llanrumney Hall ground, with Trefil leading 7-0 at the time. The game will now be replayed.
Dacruz himself was actually sent off after picking up a second yellow card in the melee around the incident that ended the match. No further action has been taken against him.
Speaking shortly after the match, Llanrumney secretary Patrick Cachia said: “I was behind the posts and I heard what their player said to Wayne. He called him a ‘black c***’.
“As a protest against the Trefil player and what he’d said, our coach took the players off. We weren’t having it. That was it, end of game. We weren’t coming back after that. It wasn’t going to happen. We wanted to make a statement that racism is not welcome in rugby.
“In all the years I played and have been secretary, I’ve never heard that kind of thing.
“On the sidelines, we had people who are black, our supporters, who heard it all and they were disgusted.
“We are a community club and we have got multi-cultural people there.”
He added: “Fair dos to the Trefil coach and a number of their players. They were apologetic to us afterwards.”
Trefil took swift action at the time, suspending the player from all club activities pending a full internal investigation and the subsequent investigation from the WRU.