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The 2011 Rugby World Cup has showed how much of rugby is not in union. Throughout the tournament there has been nothing that resembles sportsmanship.
Instead, we all have been subjected to disgruntlement, sniping and every other derogatory simile we can find. In earlier writings, I have expressed that when any group sit around a table with any idea, the first thinking’s by each individual is, “What’s in it for me?” And so it has been here at the RWC 2011.
After one removes the beautiful veneer of the magnificent opening sequences and the 2011 RWC games beginning, the foul smelling stench of selfishness oozed its way to the top.
The constant screaming into the wind by the smaller minnow nations of unjust and unequal recovery times and that they were being treated as simple “fillers” to the main event, their voices of dissent were only being heard when one of their mates sacrificed his career to have the world hear.
The greedy IRB imposing huge fines on players of these nations for wearing mouth-guards with logos so small one needed to have them sitting in a dentist chair to see them.
The blatant cheating by England of ball swapping with the IRB suggesting by their inaction that it’s all right to do so. The statements by IRB referee boss, Paddy O’Brien that his referee’s were up to the mark and then to watch bazaar ruling being impinged on team’s through-out the entire tournament that affected several outcomes.
To have these teams who felt that they were wronged, (many with justification) wait until they returned to their own countries to avoid IRB and local censure dragged out their scapegoat dolls to stick pins into so as to divert attention from their own failures. The idiotic statement of the IRB boss Mike Millar, suggesting that “any team is replaceable” at a RWC.
Yeah, Mr Millar, have another Tui and tell me that a RWC without the likely 2011 RWC world champions, the immediate past RWC champions and the current Tri Nation champions from the Southern Hemisphere would be a “World” Cup were they to boycott your 2015 games.
We see a defined rule broken and a referee enforce that written rule only to have millions look through tinted glasses at the topsy-turvy tackle and say to the woman next to them, “Don’t worry, you are only a little bit pregnant!” Idiotic rules give idiotic answers to idiotic questions.
Quade Cooper, your rugby union needs it’s ask-me kicked for not having you reprimanded by the judicial for the Helena Rubinstein face lift you did on Richie McCaw. Had you been punished all would have been forgotten and forgiven and your trip home would have been as brilliant as would have been your game. Instead, you copped the wrath of gladiatorial justice from the coliseum crowds.
Everywhere within this RWC there has been bickering, snipeing, sniding, snivelling, ill-will, cheating, unfairness, and a lack of equal justice all wrapped up in a total lack of sportsmanship. In the cold realities of light it is an event not dissimilar to those the Caesars’ of Ancient Rome presided over. Thumbs up, thumbs down, and never knowing which it will be.
Let us hope that the RWC does not suffer the same fate that followed Rome.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.