By Brad Jamieson
August 27th 2009 @ 1:55am
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England are the new bad boys of sport
England's Phil Vickery, center, tries to muscle his way through the Italian defence during the Six Nations rugby union international match at Twickenham stadium in London, Saturday Feb. 7, 2009. AP Photo/PA, David Davies
Once upon a time, the perception was that England and its various sporting codes upheld the highest of gentleman’s ethics. But old blighty is becoming increasingly known for its team’s bad sportsmanship.
If you haven’t heard by now Tom Williams, the English Rugby Union Club Harlequins wing, was instructed to conceal a blood capsule in his sock and then to feign injury to get a specialist kicker on to the field during the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster in April.
But it doesn’t stop there.
It is alleged that Williams’ mouth was sliced open by a member of staff AFTER he had left the pitch; this being a pathetic attempt to cover-up the fraud.
If that doesn’t stop you in your tracks, then it turns out the club offered Williams a massive deal to not appeal his suspension.
Apparently, this is not an isolated incident.
Dick Best, former English coach said: “If it’s put on someone’s scalp, the referee is hardly likely to go scrabbling about in their hair to see whether it’s a genuine cut.”
And Richard Cockerill said that when he was an England player, he had stitches in an existing cut on his finger opened up. The purpose being that he could come off as a blood substitution.
It’s no surprise, then, that the first Test in the Ashes this year brought out similar behaviour in the English players. There is no doubt in any neutral’s mind that Strauss claimed and confirmed to the umpire, when asked, that he caught a catch cleanly.
Replays clearly showed the ball touching the ground.
And there can be no doubt extensive time wasting probably turned a loss for England into a draw.
With even respected English writers claiming that the pitch in the fifth Test match was doctored, are these accusations just the tip of the iceberg? Should the respective international sporting organisations start paying a little more attention to the behaviour and tactics of all English teams?
I believe that there is only one conclusion: England, the former gold standard in morals and ethics, now has a tarnished reputation.
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(5)
Viscount Crouchback said | August 27th 2009 @ 2:48am | Report comment
This is a rather witless attempt at a wind-up.
First, it has been widely reported that this fake blood lark entered English rugger from the Antipodes. Just as the New Zealanders forced England to ditch its traditional amateur approach to rugger, so too English rugger chaps have been forced to adopt nefarious Antipodean methods in order to compete in the professional era.
Second, you need to ask yourself why the RFU is the only body in world rugger prepared to take a stand against such nonsense. Such practices are equally common elsewhere, yet only the noble English are willing to do anything about it.
Third, it is patently absurd to claim that the pitch was “doctored” when 700 runs were scored on it in the 3rd and 4th innings.
Your article is a classic example of the atavistic Australian “Bodyline complex”. This complex is like a facial tic passed down through the generations – as soon as England give your boys a good spanking, we hear poppycock about perfidious Albion. The Sydney Morning Herald must use the “Bodyline II” tag about once every two years. It’s quite comical.
FIsher Price said | August 27th 2009 @ 10:45am | Report comment
Dreadful article, full of sour grapes.
Colin N said | August 27th 2009 @ 10:54am | Report comment
I find these types of articles rather hilarious, when they slam a certain person, or nation, either without knowing the full story, or don’t take into account other incidents done by other nations or people.
James said | August 27th 2009 @ 11:45am | Report comment
It’s professional sport, winning matters, rules get bent. Ask the New Zealanders about the underarm incident. Talk to the teams that played the New England Patriots, talk the women who lost to Marion Jones, check out the refereeing in Serie A over the last few years, talk to Sheffield Utd fans about West Ham. Look at Ritchie McGaw who has played a whole career to a different rulebook to every other player in world rugby because he is the AB captain and can intimidate ref’s.
Cheating happens everywhere all the time in every culture and in every country where someone either thinks they can away with it or simply oversteps the line between playing to letter of the law and breaking the law.
The idea that the English project themselves as the guardians of fairplay is simply part of the image that many Australian journalists project onto England rather than having any serious substance. The English media and people in England don’t imagine or suggest that they play any fairer than the rest of the world although they, like the sporting press in every country including Australia are fast to rabidly highlight any suggestion that another country might have conducted itself in an unsporting manner.
Frank said | August 27th 2009 @ 11:30pm | Report comment
A beat up. Waste of space article. Our bowling tactics lost us the Cardiff Test, not time -wasting tactics.