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Neil Francis in the Sunday tribune

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    Neil Francis in the Sunday tribune

    Can anyone dig up his column from yesterday. It was absolutely hilarious.

    #2
    Neil Francis in the Sunday tribune

    hello?

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      #3
      Neil Francis in the Sunday tribune

      Is it me you're looking for?

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        #4
        Neil Francis in the Sunday tribune

        I have thought for quite some time that Francis files almost all of his copy while pissed out of his mind, and this column does nothing to dispel my suspicions on that score. The stupid fucker, a self-styled rugby expert, can't even spell Lote Tuqiri.

        The weirder bits are in bold type.

        The pros are turning into cons
        By Neil Francis

        THE season ends just like most other seasons – the Sanza sides warming up for the Tri-Nations by thumping the European sides. Everybody goes home to reflect and ponder until the new season starts.

        There is though something which has disturbed me, which happened early in the summer and it's stuck in my craw. A level has been reached and maybe it's time to say something.

        England were comprehensively outplayed by New Zealand in their two tests – the second test, a 44-12 defeat, was an embarrassment – but it was the events of the night of the first test where there was real shame and I don't use the word shame with any conviction because there wasn't much shame shown.

        Four English rugby union players were alleged to be linked with either the rape or serious sexual assault of a young woman and when I say young I mean 18 years of age. There seems to be some ambiguity about what actually happened. The girl, who is not a lapdancer nor connected to the sex industry, claims that she was sexually assaulted by four members of the England rugby squad.

        Jack Hodder (acting on behalf of the alleged victim), a partner in leading New Zealand law firm Chapman Tripp, in a letter to Judge Jeff Blackett, the RFU's disciplinary officer, stated that "there was no truth in reported speculation that she is a lapdancer or that her dealings with the medical profession or the police were prompted by a boyfriend. The violations caused injuries such that the medical professionals treating her referred her to the police." The girl was not a gold-digger or publicity seeker.

        The English players under legal advice declined to be interviewed until a complaint was made.

        The girl decided not to make an official complaint because it "would generate extensive and invasive media attention, threaten her privacy and personal life and compound the impact on her of the 15 June sexual violations".

        The boys were free to leave. Who were the boys? Well, David Strettle, Danny Care, Topsy Ojo and Mike Brown were the people involved in the incident. On Friday, the RFU's chief disciplinary officer, Judge Jeff Blackett, concluded his investigation into events and cleared the four of the allegations. But Brown and Ojo were found guilty of misconduct for staying out after the first Test and were both fined.

        As it stands, Danny Care has been named in the England Elite squad and Strettle and Ojo have been named in the Saxons squad. Mike Brown has been left out completely. All four players, how should we phrase this one, would like to put this behind them and concentrate on their rugby careers – how's that then? – case closed, the boys are innocent of any wrongdoing. No charges, no case to answer.

        The RFU has since stated that a new set of tour rules will be drafted into the players' contracts which will be signed by every member of the Elite and Saxon squads. One of the regulations states that while on tour you cannot bring a woman back to a room in the team hotel – could you bring a man back? Introducing regulations that inhibit what has been going on for decades isn't a solution.

        It shows that the RFU has misinterpreted what has been happening for the last 12 years – a decline in the integrity of the quality of people who are playing the game and what did or did not happen on 15 June is a manifestation of the moral stagnation of the game.

        Forgive me if I sound like Mary Whitehouse, but the question has to be asked of the professional rugby union player: what breed of people do we have representing us? There are louts and people who engage in loutish behaviour in every sport but because rugby was a white-collar middle-class sport associated with private schools and normally a university education, a lot of rugby union players had professions or solid career paths.

        It distinguished us from the classes that played rugby league and soccer, but not any more. There is a secular detachment away from the traditional rugby union player who would populate the game – professional/career people cannot play professional rugby any more – and so it follows that the people who are drawn to professional rugby just might not be the sound, solid, well-versed, well-rounded individual with a conscience. This is particularly the case in the UK where the boundary lines are all but diminished.

        The crowds that attend rugby matches haven't changed much. What goes on on the pitch is still pretty much the same. There isn't the sort of petulance shown as say a Premier League soccer game – spitting at opponents, grievously abusing and cursing at the referees, professional fouls, overreacting to fouls, diving. Although you can see a little bit here, a little bit there, slowly creeping into the game and it's taking its course from what is happening off the park – loutish behaviour off the park begets it on it.

        It seems to be endemic in the southern hemisphere – Australia in particular. I lived in Australia for a while and toured there extensively too. I was staggered how much time Australian rugby league players spent getting themselves into trouble – they just couldn't help themselves – drug abuse (performance enhancing and recreational), wife-beating, assault, rape, murder. They were up there with American football and baseball players.

        The game goes pro in 1995 and suddenly you have a huge influx of rugby league players playing for the Wallabies. Wendell Sailor was a prime example of somebody who did not fit in as a stereotypical rugby union player, but he was a proto-typical professional rugby player – phenomenally powerful and genuine pace. The guy was just bad news, always in trouble and eventually thrown out for cocaine use and possession. Every now and again you hear of Australian players breaking curfew or out late at night or involved in a fracas – every time it seems that Lote Tiqiri is involved – without even reading the rest of the paragraph I know that he is involved. Matt Henjak, Mat Rogers, all league players on the same wavelength.

        Are these guys a product of their environment or their upbringing or does professional sport engender this sort of behaviour? Long days with plenty of time between training, plenty of opportunity to be led into mischief or worse.

        Jimmy Cowan, the All Black scrum-half, is on his final, final chance – a man fond of the bottle who gets into trouble every time he gets plastered, which seems to be every second day. It happens all over the world – people wouldn't bother too much if he was just Joe Citizen – but he is the All Black scrum-half. The tabloid media in New Zealand delight in his every episode. Where will that particular episode end? Again it was the tabloids who gleefully gorged on the four England players' story. The red-tops seem to be tiring of the soccer players' scandals and finding that some fresh sleaze from rugby union constitutes a higher level of mongering.

        What constitutes good behaviour any more at national or provincial levels? Are codes of conduct in players' contracts enforced or enforceable? Do we punish players appropriately for misdemeanours or indiscretions? I don't think that we do! What would have happened if that girl did press charges?

        A year ago, a few colleagues and myself were only a couple of positions short of an international jailbird XV. I have no doubt that in the next year or so we will be able to fill it with a bench to boot. There was, no surprise, a preponderance of forwards – not enough backs. We were never angels but the speed of decline is disconcerting.

        Do our administrators do enough?

        A few years ago, Leinster employed Ricky Nebbett, a prop from Leicester. Nebbett had a criminal record and had spent time in jail. I would be amazed that his employers would not have been aware of that fact. The balance observed would be Leinster's need for front row cover against employing a convicted felon. Standards!

        What happened in New Zealand this summer is of relative importance. It is a manifestation – an inexorable, perceptible and unmistakeable slide. I do not like the direction.

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          #5
          Neil Francis in the Sunday tribune

          So it's rugby league what makes rugger players bad people. Right.

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            #6
            Neil Francis in the Sunday tribune

            On a slight tangent ... I wonder how much attention this case would have had, if the player had been playing football for Cardiff rather than rugby

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              #7
              Neil Francis in the Sunday tribune

              Gangster Octopus wrote:
              So it's rugby league what makes rugger players bad people. Right.
              I think actually it's either being a non fee paying school goer or being black, i can't decide. This article was accompanied with a picture of a large black rugby player and a tagline going along the lines of "The wrong sort?" or something like that.

              There are some very interesting assumptions in that article.

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                #8
                Neil Francis in the Sunday tribune

                actually, I just wonder where the kicking to death of brian murphy outside annabels by apparently half the Blackrock Senior cup team would fit into Franno's bizarre world view. He is a rock boy after all.

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