The Rugby Bloodgate Scandal Part 3

Yes the story that made my blood boil as my readers will testify to.

Previous posts here and here.

What started off here as a simple cheating player became,

A story of a sustained cheat in Dean Richards, one of the most respected figures in the world in this sport

A story that nearly destroyed the team doctor Wendy Chapman by a referal to the GMC.

Cost the physio his England team job.

Nearly destroyed one of the oldest teams in the sport, in the world.

Destroyed the reputation of the game in the eyes of many.

It transpired that now not only was there a fake blood capsule, a fake or man made injury to the cheek , complicit doctors, physios and a Director of a club who admitted to this 4 times previous but the player concered was offered a lucrative compensation package by his club as he was preparing to appeal against a ban for faking injury.

Tom Williams, a wing at Harlequins in London, was banned from playing for 12 months by the rugby authorities after he was found guilty of faking a cut to his mouth to influence the outcome of a match at his coach’s request.

His club asked him not to reveal the full circumstances of the offence during an appeal against the ban.

However he did reveal it!!!

To compensate Williams for the damage the affair had caused him, club officials offered him a two-year extension to his contract, a money-making testimonial and the guarantee of three years’ work after he retired. Harlequins said that the offer was not conditional on his silence.

But I think we can all agree these offers where conditional on him keeping his gob shut.

The revelations are contained in a 38-page dossier that sets out Williams’s evidence. It was released yesterday by European Rugby Cup, the governing body of the sport in Europe, which has been investigating the worst incidents of premeditated cheating in the sport. It details the extraordinary pressure that Williams was put under before, during and after the crucial European Cup quarter-final tie between his club and Leinster in April.

That report is here.