What has happened to the wonderful game???
By DC

I grew up during a better time, not eternal summers and log fire lit snow filled Christmas, no a far better time than that. I grew up in a time when rugby was played by passionate men who took to the field for the love of the game not because of a pay check. Some of you will not be able to remember

The dark side of the ball

the heady days when clubs where filled with players that had loyalty – seriously stop shaking your head its true. The days of players that rushed homefrom work - the coal face, the office, the bank hell even the private estate, ready for team practice are long gone. There was a time, a better time, when rugby was amateur not ruled by Pound or Euro. Back then the game was played at equally a fast pace with just as much skill and arguable with more desire – recently the game I grew up loving has lost a certain something. Today the game I, and millions of others love, took another step towards the dark side, towards the money grabbing disillusioned game that is normally played with a round not oval ball. Today rugby moved one more step towards the dark side of the ball – football.

When rugby turned professional all those years ago there where echoes of applause all over the world. Finally players could get paid for playing the beautiful game; players did not have to hold down a 9 to 5 job and a demanding international career. It was a land mark moment – finally farmers, steel workers, policemen and thousands like them would get paid for doing what most of us only dream of – playing Rugby. At the time the cynics called it a black day, the darkest of days – I was not among them, I thought it was time that rugby caught up with the rest of the world – the rest of the professional world. Suddenly rugby became more than a game it became a business – sponsors & television rights became the new masters of the beautiful game. Not a bad thing, let’s not beat about the bush here – Sky, Magners, Guinness, Vodafone and hundreds

Giteau’s signature for the Western Force made him the $1,000,000 man

more like them have brought a new lease of life to the game. Rugby has a bigger, wider audience thanks to sponsors and TV deals – players are no longer national heroes now they are superstars. Players like Giteau, Carter, Henson & Jonny have become worldwide house hold names, with bank balances that would be the envy of many a Hollywood star. 

Ok rather strange quote coming up .....

“ with great power comes great responsibility “ Uncle Ben, Spiderman

The sponsors, the money men, the professionals took this great game to new levels but in doing so they needed to be careful of opening Pandora’s box. When results are more important than the method of achieving them the principle, the ethos  of rugby dies...listen carefully the funeral march has started for the once great sport.

In the last few years we have seen the swing of importance in the game – victory at all costs. How many times have we seen props limp off and the uncontested scrums being called for – just as more mobile flankers join the fray? Granted I have come out against this in the past and also compared the whole bloodgate fiasco to the same gamesmanship in the same breath. But I have had time to think, I have had time for the anger to fester. Yes we all stand in awe at the ability of the likes of Richie McCaw and Martin Williams to push the very letter of the law on the field but that is part of the game – that is what makes it the best game in the world.

In the last few months we have seen the self destruction of a young French centre – a true talent with the world at his feet who has imploded in such spectacular style – pressures of the game the cause? We have seen something that I never thought I would utter in the same breath as the word rugby – hooligans. Yes we have banter and yes at time the banter leads to tantrums but not gangs of hooligans clashing on the terraces – yet there are reports of such behaviour echoing out of South Africa ..... See the dark side of the ball. But the whole insanity of the fake blood injury at Quins is a new low in the game.

The goings on at Harlequins have shaken the rugby world to the core, just when we all thought the roller coaster had stopped twisting and turning, in the last 24 hours it has leapt straight off the track. When Dean Richards stepped down many thought that was the end of it, but the rugby decision makers were warming up the cannons – they did not throw the book at Richards and Quins they shot the whole bloody library. All over London, there are Quins hierarchy ducking and diving, dodging low flying suspensions and penalties.

Dean Richards has been handed a three year worldwide ban for his role in the whole bloodgate affair – three years worldwide ban. Physio, Steph Brennan who hoped to be pulling on a red rose and turning the delicate art of the wet sponge to the international stage has also been handed a two year ban. Quins have been handed a £259,000 fine, a fine that must be paid in full by the 1st December this year. Tom Williams, the player at the centre of the whole matter, had had his ban reduced to a mere four months, a player that if he could have kept both eyes open maybe this whole thing never would have come to light. Quins managed to escape a European ban, thankfully for their bank account – or season tickets would have had to be partially refunded, TV money would have to be returned – the club may never have recovered from this – they still might not. Williams may have had his ban reduced for coming clean and turning coat – but every time he leaves the field now questions will be asked.

With Richards at the helm, Quins turned heads and wowed fans last year – the memories of the closing moments of the Stade Francais games and the apocalyptic weather in the Uslter away game just some of the fond memories I have of Richards’ Quins. He had under his guidance some rising stars on the England scene, and a game winner in Nick Evans – but he has thrown it all away. Richards has been found guilty not just for

Richards biting his lip

his role in the fake blood injury against Leinster but on four other counts. FOUR – how many teams are now looking back at the game tapes of last year and thinking were we robbed, were we cheated? This situation could roll on and on – like the whole Carlos Tevez, West Ham affair of a few premiership seasons ago.

Richards has shown the kind of cunning the kind of under handed tactics that has Lex Luther cursing him for his criminal genius. Granted he has said all the right words to the press and hung his head with the just the right amount of regret.

Richards has been the big man and taken “full responsibility” and rightly called it a “farcical situation”.... but hang on Dean – who was the evil genius behind the whole incident – YOU DEAN. Please do not have us thinking that there is a greater power than you at Quins – you were the helm – the club put you in charge – you should have looked after this young talented pool of quality better.

When rugby goes down the route of winning at all costs it loses it spark, its heart. When a team that should be thinking about winning by scoring more points than the opposition resorts to these kind of under hand tactics, something is rotten in the state of European rugby. Richards and his side kick Brennan, appear to have been handed harsh and heavy punishments, but hang on one second. These two are responsible for the potential collapse of a team that should have a period of dominance ahead of it; instead they are facing the prospect of an opening day fixture against the Mighty Wasps without Richards at the Rudder.

When players and coaches plan to cheat to such an extent that they take blood capsules to games then something is not right. I have bought the

Ellis must be side stepping in his grave

Richards package – I believed he was the real deal, I believed that Quins under him where going to shine brightly on the European Rugby stage.

Like I said at the beginning of this rant – I grew up watching rugby in a better time, a time when players and coaches wanted to entertain and win. Now we have coaches and players that sit in dark corners planning and scheming like evil cartoon villains – rather than being on the training paddock, thinking up new ways to enthuse the fans. That is what is wrong with the game at the core– the power of the pound has meant that wins mean more than entertainment. At first this caused boring grinding rugby, but ELVs came in to try and alter this – but the decision makers could never prepare themselves for this mentality. Win and stuff the fans, now that is not acceptable. Hopefully the Quins issue is the end of this mentality; if it’s the beginning then things are going to get a hell of a lot worse. Every questionable injury, suspect ref decision will be greeted with suspicion, from here on in nothing will be the same again. We are standing on the verge of an abyss, a vast dark abyss that could see more changes in the game than the first time William Webb Ellis picked up a ball tucked it under his arms and stepped inside off his right foot. For the love of the game I truly hope that this is the end of the back stabbing and cloak and dagger team plays. Rugby used to be played by Toffs and Commoners alike, a game where on the pitch all men are equal – now it is a game of schemers, full of cunning stunts planning to destroy the honour and principles of the game.

 Right about now would be a good time for someone to start American Pie, today the music really did die. We are the fans you owe it to us to entertain – you wanted a professional game, you wanted to entertain for payment, then do just that, entertain. Bring us back the old days of passion, pride and crowd thrilling heart in the throat moments. Leave us, the fans thinking “wow”, not “what has happened to our beautiful game?”

DC