We all thought the people who run football are mad..

[Skint Gull]

... but it appears the people who run the egg chasing have no idea.

Harlequins winger Tom Williams banned for feigning blood injury | thelondonpaper.com

In rugger people get banned for 2 games for eye gauging but some lad who feigned a blood injury for his team gets a TWELVE month ban! Don't get me wrong if you watch the video of the situation it looks well fishy but 12 months for fucks sake!

 

[Barrel of Fun]

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It may seem excessively harsh on the surface of things, but it is cheating and they gained an underhand advantage in a very important match. I am undecided as to whether Williams did feign the injury. Is all the evidence and case based on a wink?

The eye gouging decision was not long enough, but serious foul play is totally different to this sort of activity and should not be used as a yardstick.

 

[strings]

Normally I like the rugby authorities - they tend to give fairly proportional penalties however I think you are right regarding the eye-gouging. I'm not really sure what to make of the one-year penalty for the player for feigning a blood injury.

 

[beorhthelm]

dont get it, he clearly was bleeding?

 

[Barrel of Fun]

dont get it, he clearly was bleeding?

The sticking point being whether it was intentional or not. Quite easy to get a team mate to punch you in a ruck or bite your own tongue.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

The suggestion is that he was chewing on a blood capsule, the sort of thing you get with Dracula fancy dress outfits.

Cheating, and attempting to cheat the opposition by allowing an illegal replacement. They have to kick his arse.

 

[The Wizard]

The suggestion is that he was chewing on a blood capsule, the sort of thing you get with Dracula fancy dress outfits.

Cheating, and attempting to cheat the opposition by allowing an illegal replacement. They have to kick his arse.

True but put that ban in comparison to the ban that Saffer got for eye gauging...f*** outrageous.

 

[fatbadger]

Nah, sorry, but cheats deserve the greatest punishments of all. Cheating should be considered the worst crime of all in sport. It bugs the hell out of me that those caught taking illegal recreational drugs get the same ban as those who take performance-enhancing drugs.

In fact, my biggest complaint about "the people that run football" is that they don't seem to give a toss about cheats. The football authorities should take a lesson from the rugby authorities on this one. If persistent divers are given a one-year ban (as, indeed, they should) and their clubs a hefty fine (as, indeed, they should), we would all be cheering.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

True but put that ban in comparison to the ban that Saffer got for eye gauging...f*** outrageous.

Two entirely seperate incidents and they should not be used as a comparison.

Eye gouging, whilst wrong, is a spur of the moment act in a very physical game (the ban does seem very lenient). The Williams incident was an orchestrated happening to gain an advantage and cheat their way to the next round. 12 months does seem to be a long time, but athletes get more for drug abuse or match fixing and so on...

 

[Twinkle Toes]

Cheating, and attempting to cheat the opposition by allowing an illegal replacement. They have to kick his arse.

Quite right edna, but in my mind it begs the questions:

1) Where did he get the cheeky lil' prop from?
&
2) If he was found guilty & banned, then why did the 'Quins management team get away scot-free?

 

[Barrel of Fun]

If you don't mind me answering (ahead of Edna)?

1) Quite easily. The physio is on most of the time. Quite conceivable that he managed to pick it up during a break (not having watched the full match).

2) No evidence or direct link to suggest that the management were involved in the scandal. The club was fined £215k (50% suspended for a year), so there is some blame apportioned to the club.

 

[Snoop Dogg]

Hold on a sec. If he WAS chewing on a blood capsule, where the f*** did he keep it during the match? I'm not saying your wrong Edna, but I don't understand that if nobody's actually seen him do it, there's no video evidence of Quins cheating, so can he really be banned for 12 months?

If it can be proved that he and Quins were cheating then he/they should be punished heavily, but is there substantial evidence that foul play was involved?

 

[Twinkle Toes]

If you don't mind me answering (ahead of Edna)?

1) Quite easily. The physio is on most of the time. Quite conceivable that he managed to pick it up during a break (not having watched the full match).

2) No evidence or direct link to suggest that the management were involved in the scandal. The club was fined £215k (50% suspended for a year), so there is some blame apportioned to the club.

No prob's Bof; & all jolly good answers to my Q's. That said, I still feel there's more to this than yer man acting alone here (but I guess the authorities have thrown that idea out now). Good job I don't really warm to a good ol' conspiricy theory innit. Much..

 

[Skint Gull]

But surely the lad is doing what he's been told to do? It's hardly likely that the little winger suddenly decided it would be benefitial to the team if he faked a blood injury so that the goal kicker could come on for the last 5 mins.

Don't get me wrong this was a proper deliberate case of cheating and a very well orchestrated one that should be punished heavily. But surely it's the team that should be punished not the player, if you can't prove who organised it it's a bit unfair to take it all out on one player!

At the end of the day, to a lesser extent this happens in every test match England play in when players go off for a bit of minor treatment and a specialist fielder comes on in place, it's just a real piss taking extension of the rules.

By all means give the lad a suspension but 12 months is ludicrous!

 

[brakespear]

That said, I still feel there's more to this than yer man acting alone here (but I guess the authorities have thrown that idea out now).

I'm guessing they very much haven't ruled it out but just can't definitively prove it....thus the large ban handed out indtead.

 

[drew]

The suggestion is that he had a blood capsule. The question is who supplied it? 12 months might have been given because he would not implicate anyone else?

 

[Skint Gull]

Now thats more like the punishments i would have expected:

BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | My Club | Harlequins | Richards banned for three years

 

[Icy Gull]

Richards must have been massively implicated. Shame I was hoping that Quins would sweep all before them this year. Oh well people can't say that this has been brushed under the carpet. If they now get chucked out of the Heiniken Cup will that be punishment enough for those baying for their blood?

 

[Bozza]

Matt Dawson has been talking about this and most of what I heard was about the outrage being expressed that this is something new in the sport. By all accounts it's not and for years physios have been coming on and giving people a little nick with a razor blade to draw blood.