Matera must face punishment insists horrified Hewitt
ASHTON Hewitt has slammed World Rugby and the game in general for paying lip service to the issue of racism after Argentina captain Pablo Matera returned to action.
Matera and his Pumas teammates Guido Petti and Santiago Socino were temporarily banned from rugby after past social media posts containing horrific racist abuse were discovered.
The trio missed Argentina’s draw with Australia, but have since had their suspensions lifted with their governing body describing such measures as “unnecessary.”
Dragons wing Hewitt – a man who has regularly given his views on racism in rugby – believes a lack of punishment is simply unacceptable.
He told TRP: “These instances of such blatant racism aren’t revealed or experienced very often in professional rugby.
“In this instance it’s as clear as day and for everyone to see that there was absolute racism. Everyone has been talking about the player Matera is, the leader he is, and the sort of bloke he is.
“He’s in the public eye so it’s his responsibility to show he’s absolutely not racist. It’s also the responsibility of Argentinian Rugby and World Rugby to address it.”
Hewitt adds: “He demonstrated racism and he wasn’t a child. He owes it to everyone to be transparent and if his views have changed, then must tell everyone how or why they’ve changed.
“If he can’t do that then somebody needs to educate him on why what he said was so wrong.
“Until there is transparency and accountability, I think he should be banned and definitely not be captain of his national side.
“We say rugby is against racism and we’ve got an opportunity to face it, I don’t think it’s been handled as best as it could be which is disappointing.
“If it really is rugby against racism and rugby stands as a collective, then World Rugby should be putting pressure on unions to stand by those words and address these issues.”
Matera’s social media posts contained highly offensive material which disparaged both those of different races and people from other South American countries.
Hewitt, 26, was born in Newport. He is a proud Welshman who considers himself both Welsh and Jamaican and has never shied away from confronting the issues surrounding race.
He has been a vocal supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and visits schools in south Wales to educate children on racism.
Wales’ Autumn Nations Cup matches were preceded by a ‘Rugby against Racism’ message, but Hewitt believes more can be done.
He says match bans and tougher punishments must be implemented.