Monye and Obano put World Rugby to shame
As a year that has been like no other draws to an end, it’s timely to reflect on what needs to be done to ensure that rugby can continue to thrive.
In his recent Open Letter, focusing primarily on concussions, Sir Bill Beaumont chucked into the pot the claim that rugby is ‘open and inclusive’, and that’s not something that can go unchallenged. Without question the game is more open and inclusive than in the past, but that’s not the same as Beaumont’s claim.
After it came to light that he had in the past posted racist and homophobic Tweets, the Argentinian Union first stripped Pablo Matera of the captaincy of the national side, and then without any proper investigation reinstated him. Surely World Rugby came out with a swift and crystalclear condemnation of these Tweets, and applied what pressure it could on the Argentinian Union to hold a full enquiry?
No, they typically sat on their hands until an Ugo Monye interview on BT Sport embarrassed them into belatedly issuing a vanilla statement deploring the vile sentiments expressed in Matera’s Tweets.
Monye succinctly summed up the affair with a damning comment that
“Rugby wants to combat racism, until it has to combat racism”! World Rugby’s subsequent statement showed the validity of his words. Benno Obano’s film Everybody’s Game is a thoroughly even-handed piece of work, showing how far rugby has moved in recent years, while highlighting how much further there is to go – it should be mandatory viewing for all rugby administrators.
Next, player welfare has to be made to mean something – this is the biggest issue the game faces. It has become a box to be ticked whenever an administrator speaks, but there hasn’t been enough action. The focus has been on high tackles, but I can’t help but
feel that the fear of litigation largely drove those actions. Rugby is a contact sport, and players are going to get injured, but there is so much more that can be done to protect them.
A good start would be to apply the laws. In last weekend’s European games we saw the usual business of players flying into rucks to clear out an opponent, totally out of control, and the officials ignoring it unless there was contact with the neck or head.
Law 15 regarding the ruck makes it clear that a player joining the ruck has to be on his feet, and must bind onto a team-mate or an opponent – this just isn’t happening. This, and other
abuses of the laws, has happened on World Rugby’s watch, and they should be held accountable. Also, let’s have no more variation in the way different geographies ‘interpret’ the laws – that makes a mockery of the term ‘global game’! No-one wants to take the physicality out of rugby, but there is so much more that can be done to make the game safer without removing its spirit.
It’s self-evident that players are being asked to play too many games, and that has an undoubted effect on the wear and tear on their bodies. The amount of rugby isn’t going to decrease, because the television companies want games to show, and the clubs and Unions desperately need the money, but a way has to be found to square this circle. In England, bigger squads within the current salary cap or ideally a lower one, has to be the answer. There is a way to do this if the will can be found. We simply have to reduce the ridiculous demands on players.
Rugby needs to start treating the Pacific Island nations with more respect – especially as regards their finances. The rules on how the proceeds of Test matches are split must be changed so the Islanders are properly compensated – the current system reeks of colonialism, and it must change. This is yet another area where World Rugby has talked a good game, but has achieved little.
Perhaps the time has come for the major rugby nations to review whether World Rugby, with its 100+ staff, and its politicking, is the most effective organisation to run rugby. The Home and SANZAAR nations should commission a piece of work to assess whether this is the best way to manage the global game, and they shouldn’t be afraid to act if the findings demand they should. Which tasks genuinely need a centralised governing body and which could be much better handled at a local or regional level?
Finally, one we can all agree with: let’s hope for an end to this vile pandemic so the game can be played in front of crowds again.