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Graeme Mew, the IRB Commissioner looking into the IRB’s bizarre appeal in the James Horwill disciplinary case, has come to the right decision regarding the original decision taken by the New Zealand QC, Nigel Hampton.
Horwill is free to play against the Lions in the upcoming third Test.
>> Breaking: James Horwill cleared
But he has let the IRB and people involved with the British and Irish Lions franchise off the hook by suggesting that the IRB appeal against a detailed and thorough finding of Horwill ‘not guilty’ by one of its own commissioners was somehow ‘properly taken.’
The IRB’s decision to appeal against the finding on Horwill was improper.
It was done without any evidence being presented to the public that the original decision was wrong. Misinformation was presented to give the appearance of balance on the part of the IRB.
We also do not know who actually decided to make the appeal. We do not know what the grounds for the appeal was.
We also do not know what involvement the Lions camp had in this affair, other than the statement that there was no ‘official’ Lions involvement (whatever that means?) in pushing the case against Horwill.
The IRB, too, when announcing the appeal against the original decision made a point of insisting that the Independent Appeal Officer Graeme Mew was a ‘Canadian.’
It is clear why this designation was made. It was to show that there was no British and Irish bias in the appointment. But as a writer on The Roar has pointed out, Mew is an Englishman who was educated at Kingston University in England, is a member of the England and Wales bar, who practices in Canada and England.
Lawyers who I’ve been in contact with me tell me that the entire re-appeal process denied ‘natural justice’ to Horwill. It was a shonky exercise right from its beginning.
The attack on Horwill had nothing to do with cleaning up rugby. We know this because the IRB was mute about Owen Farrell’s stomping of Ben Lucas in the Reds – Lions game.
The Lions camp identified Horwill as a key forward for the Wallabies. They seized on an unfortunate incident to get him out of the series, starting with the crucial second Test. They pushed the IRB (who have never identified themselves as being part of the process) to attempt to get Horwill out of the third Test when the original complaint failed.
The British rugby media was briefed on the line to take and starting with Stuart Barnes down they accepted the bait and fell on Horwill like a pack of snarling hounds. This attack on Horwill from the media was then translated into an attack by the Lions supporters who booed Horwill viciously throughout the Melbourne Test.
The IRB’s official statement on the Horwill Appeal Decision ends: ‘The IRB will be making no further comment on the case.’
This is an affront to James Horwill, the ARU, to Wallaby supporters and all the other stakeholders in the game of rugby throughout the world.
The IRB processes should not be used to promote the interests of a particular team – be they Lions, All Blacks, Wallabies, or any other.
The Board of the ARU must now show steel. It needs to demand a full and open account of all the dealings involved with the Horwill affair. We need the names and the details of the men who put their own interests ahead of the interests of the game.
And when these details and facts are established, these men need to be told they have no place in the running of the game.
Does the ARU Board have the guts to defend the reputation of the Wallaby captain and the interests of Australian rugby?