>> Probyn: Solomona ban smacks of a witch hunt
“A precedent has been set that is impossible for the RFU to enforce”
It would appear that the RFU have put themselves in a very invidious position as the Denny Solomona incident turns more into a farce than an example to others of one of rugby’s core values – respect. The incident reported to the referee during the game was that Solomona allegedly twice called the young Worcester scrum-half Jamie Shillcock a ‘faggot’ after they had clashed early in the second half.
Although no action was taken during the game, it was quite rightly recorded and reported by the referee, even though everyone involved was happy to forget about it once the game was over.
However, the RFU chose to convene a disciplinary hearing where all the facts were laid out before an independent panel. The whole idea of the RFU instigating the disciplinary process against Solomona was to show that rugby is an inclusive sport and will not tolerate any form of abuse on the grounds of religion, colour, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin against any of its players, no matter how trivial.
Once the facts were known the panel chose to believe the unsupported statement of one player against the unsupported statement of the other and banned Solomona for four weeks.
As a result, the RFU have left themselves open to accusations of something akin to a witch hunt where Solomona has been found guilty despite a lack of any evidence to corroborate the accusation levelled against him by Shillcock.
Solomona admitted himself that he had used language some would consider offensive, but not the homophobic words he was accused of. So,in one sense he was guilty of verbal abuse, but I wonder would the ban have been as long for swearing at an opponent?
The problem faced by Sale’s director of rugby Steve Diamond is that he must accept the ban and cannot appeal against the sanction without appearing to support a player who, as far as the discipline panel are concerned, lied about what he did or didn’t say.
Diamond said, “I am worried about what happens in every game, not just at this level, but every club game. Can it happen where somebody says to the referee that something has been said but no one's heard?”
I think he is suggesting that a precedent has been set that is impossible for the RFU to enforce.
In games up and down the country at all levels, players will now be able to approach a referee and make unsubstantiated claims about a player in the opposition. The referee will have to report it to the RFU who will be in the invidious position of having to issue disciplinary proceedings in every case or face the charge of double standards.
The law itself has such a broad focus that virtually any comment made to any player – for instance calling an Irish player ‘Paddy’ – could be construed as being in breach.
While I understand the need in a modern professional game to try and make players more aware of their public image and the fact that televised games have a number of microphones that could pick up any unsavoury comments, I feel that in this case the RFU have used a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
As John Kingston steps down from Quins, I can’t help wondering if his departure is as much to do with Quins’ New Zealand link as this season’s results.
Yes, we all know that Harlequins have not had the best of seasons, particularly last week’s disappointing defeat by London Irish, but they have been a side that have failed to find consistency virtually since the game went professional.
Kingston has seen them through some troubled times and has been a steady hand on the tiller as they navigated themselves back into contention as a competitive Premiership team.
Rugby hasn’t followed football’s coaching merry go round where a short run of losses sees the coach sacked and a new one installed almost on a monthly basis.
However with Bath, Northampton, Gloucester, London Irish, Worcester and Quins all under-performing this season and Mallinder, Gold, Kennedy and now Kingston replaced, it seems the funfair may have arrived. For some reason this season has seen many teams struggle with a number of injuries to established players (even those who didn’t go on the Lions tour), adding to the woes of club and country coaches.
This close to the end of the club season is not the time any player would want an injury, particularly with England’s poor Six Nations showing.
Eddie Jones is under some media pressure to rest his ‘tired’ Lions, although as I have said before I think that’s ridiculous, he might well use that as an excuse to experiment in South Africa without risk.
A core of established players with some new and past players could have been the order of the day but with injuries to captain Dylan Hartley, Danny Cipriani and others cutting his options, Jones might go for broke.