We will root out racism, RFU chief tells Burrell

CONCERNED rugby bosses will launch an independent inquiry this week into Luther Burrell’s claims of racism after RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney met him to discuss his revelations in The Mail on Sunday that he has endured racist abuse in his career.

They first met at Twickenham, along with the Premier Rugby Limited (PRL) and the Rugby

Players Association (RPA), since when Sweeney travelled to meet the England and Newcastle Falcons centre again.

Sweeney said: ‘We’ve reached an agreement with Newcastle in terms of what we have to do in there and to do the right appropriate independent review of what has happened there. It will be an RFU inquiry with an independent chair, which will be starting imminently.

‘Luther is fully involved in that. Secondly, we are setting up a means and a process jointly with the RPA and with PRL to go out to the broader professional game and create the right environment for people to be able to feed back in their views. Ellis Genge spoke about it before the Australia match, and he said that in his perception he didn’t feel that racism is rife. It is in our interests to make the game as diverse and accessible as possible.’

Asked if he felt rugby has a problem with racism, Sweeney said: ‘You hear that a lot, don’t you? You hear that rugby is for the elite. You hear about the public school influence. You hear about the backgrounds the players come from.

‘I don’t necessarily see it that way. I go to a lot of community clubs at the weekends. If you go to an Alnwick, a Prenton or a Birkenhead Park, or any number of clubs around the country, you don’t feel you are in an elitist environment. You might go to other parts of the country and it is a slightly different profile. It is a badge that has been attached to rugby that we have got to work harder to change.’