These players must be moved on if Irish rugby is to do same
“Keeping them on would only widen a divide”
IT IS now over two weeks since the IRFU and Ulster Rugby announced they would be conducting a joint internal review into the issues arising from the Belfast rape trial.
Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding were acquitted of all charges brought against them but the review is assessing the conduct of the players ‘in line with existing procedures for all contracted players’.
Under the terms of the standard contract, the IRFU has the right to dismiss a player from their employment if the player is guilty of gross misconduct or has committed a serious breach of their agreement, including conduct that brings the game, the IRFU or the player into disrepute.
We wrote about this last week in the belief that the review would have been completed by now and it seems strange that we are still waiting for an outcome.
It is pointless, and inadvisable, to speculate as to why the review process is still going on but there seems little doubt that the longer it does, the more damage is being done to Ulster and Irish rugby.
It looks like an easy decision to make. While both players are not guilty of the charges levelled against them, the evidence surrounding the case, notably the sordid WhatsApp messages that were made public during the trial, appear to fall under the banner of ‘gross misconduct’ and ‘bringing the game, the IRFU and the player’ into disrepute.
That much appears clear from the public outcry in the wake of the trial. While social media platforms are areas of discourse defined by over-the-top reaction, the depth of feeling that has manifested itself in petitions, numerous protest marches and newspaper ads cannot be disputed.
On the flip side, the Ulster Rugby Supporters Club (URSC) have come out with a defiant display of loyalty with their own petition, newspaper ad and statement asserting that there will be serious repercussions for ticket sales if Jackson and Olding are not reinstated. And then, on Wednesday, Willie John McBride weighed in with his support for the two players, claiming that not allowing Jackson and Olding to continue their Ulster careers would be ‘totally unfair’ and that the pair have ‘learned their lesson’ and need to ‘get back to doing what they do best and that is play rugby’.
McBride’s views were widely condemned, including a scathing comment from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.
It looked like a poorly thoughtout defence from one of the icons of Ulster, Irish and Lions rugby — but not a surprising one.
The rugby achievement McBride is most famous for is his captaincy of the Lions squad that won the series in South Africa in 1974.
Given the atrocities taking place under the Apartheid regime in South Africa at the time, that tour should never have taken place but McBride was defiant in his insistence it should go ahead and has gone on record many times defending that decision.
‘Politically, all this stuff was going on, “don’t go, don’t go” and then of course we went and we won and when we came home everyone wanted to know us, it shows you how deep all this stuff is,’ said McBride on the Sky Sports documentary The Invincibles.
‘We played against the blacks, we played against the coloureds and it was obvious to me, South Africa was changing. The trouble was all these people were wanting it to change too fast.’
Describing anti-Apartheid demonstrations as ‘all this stuff’ while questioning the desire to abolish South Africa’s segregationist policies ‘too fast’ seems to give an insight into McBride’s warped line of thinking — an impression copper-fastened by his observations on Jackson and Olding this week. Neither McBride nor the Ulster Rugby Supporters Club (URSC) look to have thought this one through.
Both players have issued apologies for their behaviour (although Jackson waited a week to release his) yet nowhere in the statement released by URSC chairman Jonathan Bill was the conduct of the players questioned, the focus instead on criticising outside commentary while making apparent threats to the branch.
But, let’s suppose both players are reinstated after the review and are free to play for Ulster again next season.
If that happens, a public reaction is guaranteed and the IRFU will find themselves in the firing line as much as Ulster.
Widespread demonstrations seem certain to follow such a decision, outside Ravenhill and the IRFU offices, and we could expect boycotting of Ulster matches by supporters, wherever they played in Ireland.
And, at a time when Irish rugby is experiencing an unprecedented high on the back of the Grand Slam and Ireland’s rise to second in the world rankings, it would be a truly disastrous PR move and one that would have serious implications for sponsorship and the overall goodwill surrounding Irish rugby.
It would also be hugely detrimental to Ulster’s status within the Irish rugby fraternity. We spoke last week about some questionable aspects to the Ulster culture over the years and the siege-mentality stance taken by their supporters club and the likes of McBride add to the notion of a province apart.
Keeping Jackson, Olding and Craig Gilroy (implicated in the tawdry details surrounding the case) would only widen a divide that is expanding every day this review drags on.
There is only one right decision here — Jackson, Olding and Gilroy have to be culled from Irish rugby for a period lengthy enough to lay down a marker on player conduct. There have been arguments that the players could be kept on and instructed to conduct educational tours of schools and clubs to emphasise the importance of proper behaviour.
However, while the sentiment is correct, that would feel like an exercise in tokenism, a means of allowing the players to continue their careers.
That education should be taking place in any case but, in terms of taken decisive steps to prevent something similar happening in future, the only proper education is consequence.
It would be great to get back to talking about on-field matters but it is impossible to properly focus on Pro14 or Champions Cup endeavours while the rape trial fallout is hanging over Irish rugby.
This review needs to finish and draw a line in the sand on player behaviour. The only way for Irish rugby to move on is to move these players on, as soon as possible.