Bloodgate

Last updated

Williams in 2013 Tom Williams 2013 (cropped).jpg
Williams in 2013

Bloodgate was a rugby union scandal involving English team Harlequins in their Heineken Cup quarter-final against Irish side Leinster on 12 April 2009. Harlequins wing Tom Williams feigned an injury using a fake blood capsule in order for Harlequins to make another substitution late in the game.

Contents

The incident resulted in bans for Williams, director of rugby Dean Richards and physiotherapist Steph Brennan, as well as a fine for the club. It has been described as "rugby's biggest scandal". [1]

Events

Seven minutes into the second half of their 2008–09 Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster, Harlequins fly-half Nick Evans suffered a thigh injury and was replaced by Chris Malone. Malone tore his hamstring 20 minutes later and was replaced by winger Tom Williams, leaving full-back Mike Brown as the best available place kicker. With eight minutes to play and the score at 6–5 to Leinster, Brown had the chance to give Harlequins the lead from a penalty, but he pushed his kick wide. Williams himself then came off with an apparent blood injury allowing Evans to return to the field, despite having been substituted earlier. Evans' late drop goal attempt went wide, and Leinster went on to win the game.[ citation needed ]

Aftermath

An investigation by the European Rugby Cup and the Rugby Football Union revealed that blood injuries had also been faked by Harlequins to enable tactical substitutions on four previous occasions. These findings resulted in a 12-month ban for Williams (reduced to four months on appeal), [2] a three-year ban for former director of rugby Dean Richards and a two-year ban for physiotherapist Steph Brennan, as well as a £260,000 fine for the club. [3] [4] Club chairman Charles Jillings subsequently tendered his resignation, [5] while club doctor Wendy Chapman was suspended by the General Medical Council pending a disciplinary panel hearing into her cutting of Williams' lip to hide his use of the blood capsule. [6] On 2 September 2009, it was reported that Harlequins had escaped being thrown out of the Heineken Cup following the scandal when the European Rugby Cup board said they approved of the penalties already handed out. [7]

Mark Evans, chief executive of Harlequin FC said:

You would be incredibly naive to think (the Bloodgate stigma) will ever disappear completely. Things like that don't. They become part of history and, like good or bad seasons, are woven into the fabric of any club. [8]

Richards resigned from his post at Harlequins over the incident, in which it was acknowledged that he had orchestrated it and had "central control". [9] [10] He was given a three-year suspension from coaching as punishment. [11] The International Rugby Board (IRB) also confirmed that they would apply the ban to rugby union worldwide. [12]

Dr. Chapman, the medic who cut Williams' lip, appeared before the General Medical Council charged with alleged conduct likely to bring the profession into disrepute. [13] The appearance resulted in Dr. Chapman being warned but allowed to continue practising medicine. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Johnson (rugby union)</span> British Lions & England international rugby union player & coach

Martin Osborne Johnson CBE is an English retired rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester in a career spanning 16 seasons. He captained England to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and is regarded as one of the greatest locks ever to have played, and one of England's greatest ever players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ospreys (rugby union)</span> Rugby team

The Ospreys, formerly the Neath–Swansea Ospreys is one of the four professional rugby union teams from Wales. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team formed as a result of Neath RFC and Swansea RFC combining to create a new merged entity, as part of the new regional structure of Welsh rugby, that began in 2003. They are also affiliated with a number of local semi-professional and amateur clubs, including Welsh Premier Division sides Aberavon RFC, Bridgend Ravens, and original founding clubs Neath and Swansea. The regional area represented by the team has widely become known for rugby purposes as 'Ospreylia'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiff Rugby</span> Professional Welsh regional rugby union team

Cardiff Rugby is one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harlequin F.C.</span> English rugby union club, based in Twickenham

Harlequins is a professional rugby union club that plays in Premiership Rugby, the top level of English rugby union. Their home ground is the Twickenham Stoop, located in Twickenham, south-west London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Evans (rugby union)</span> Rugby player

Nicholas John Evans is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He played at fly-half and fullback. He played for the Highlanders and the Blues in Super 14. At 28 he joined Harlequins for the 2008–09 Premiership Rugby season, and remained with the club until his retirement on a deal reportedly worth £320,000 a year. He retired at the end of the 2016–17 season and is now a coach for Quins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conor O'Shea</span> Irish rugby union coach and player

Conor O'Shea is an Irish rugby union coach and former player. He was the head coach of the Italy national team from 2016 to 2019. He played as a full back and occasionally at out-half and centre for Ireland, Lansdowne and London Irish. He has also coached London Irish and Harlequins, and held management positions with the English Rugby Football Union and the English Institute of Sport.

In both rugby union and rugby league, a blood replacement is a special kind of substitution which can be used in the case of a player having to leave the field of play temporarily to have a wound attended to. Both rugby union and rugby league are physically demanding games, so musculoskeletal injuries are common, as well as injuries to the head and neck, and fractures. During the IRB 2011 Rugby World Cup, a study was conducted to determine the frequency and nature of the injuries sustained. It confirmed that rugby, like many other contact sports, has a high incidence of injury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Williams (rugby union, born 1983)</span> English rugby union player

Tom Williams is an English former rugby union player who played for Harlequins in the Aviva Premiership. He normally played at either full-back or on the wing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Will Skinner (rugby union)</span> English rugby union player

William John Skinner is an English former rugby union player who played openside flanker for Leicester Tigers and Harlequins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Owens</span> Welsh former International Rugby Union referee

Nigel Owens, is a Welsh former international rugby union referee, who retired in December 2020 after a 17-year career. He previously held the world record for the most test matches refereed and is one of five international referees listed as professional within the Welsh Rugby Union, alongside Craig Evans, Adam Jones, Dan Jones and Ben Whitehouse. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest rugby referees of all time.

Paul Gustard is a former rugby union footballer who played for Leicester Tigers, London Irish and Saracens at flanker. He was captain of rugby and educated at the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle and is the son of former Gosforth favourite Steve Gustard, who was the club's leading try scorer for several seasons in the late 1970s. He gained Full County Cap honours with Durham County and was selected to captain the England U21 tour to Australia under manager Jeff Probyn. He was the only player not to be attached to a Premiership Rugby Squad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Croft</span> British Lions & England international rugby union player

Tom Croft is a retired rugby union player. He played 173 games for Leicester Tigers between 2005–17 winning four Premiership Rugby titles, played 40 times for England between 2008–2015, was part of the squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and the British & Irish Lions in 2009 to South Africa and 2013 to Australia. His career was somewhat plagued with a variety of minor and serious injuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seán O'Brien (rugby union, born 1987)</span> Rugby player

Seán Kevin O'Brien is an Irish retired professional rugby union player. He previously represented home province Leinster for eleven seasons. At Leinster, he helped the team win four European titles, and was named ERC European Player of the Year for the 2010–11 season, he then played three season's for English Premiership Rugby side London Irish.

The 2008–09 Heineken Cup was the fourteenth edition of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. It started in October 2008 and ended on 23 May 2009 at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. Irish side Leinster became the champions, defeating Leicester Tigers 19–16 in the final.

Dean Richards is a rugby union coach and former player for Leicester Tigers, England and British & Irish Lions. He was most recently the Director of Rugby at Newcastle Falcons, a position he held for ten years between 2012 and 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Heineken Cup final</span> Football match

The 2009 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 2008–09 Heineken Cup, the 14th season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 23 May 2009 at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh; this was the second time that the Heineken Cup final had been held at Murrayfield after the 2005 final, when Toulouse beat Stade Français 18–12 after extra time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Marler</span> British Lions & England international rugby union player

Joseph William George Marler is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a prop for Premiership Rugby club Harlequins and the England national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 Heineken Cup final</span> Football match

The 2011 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 2010–11 Heineken Cup, the 16th season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 21 May 2011 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. The match was contested by Northampton Saints of England and Leinster of Ireland, the second Heineken Cup final for each club. Leinster won the match 33–22 after being 22–6 down at half-time. The win was Leinster's second win in three years of the competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010–11 European Challenge Cup</span>

The 2010–11 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 15th season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second-tier club rugby union competition, and the second to be sponsored by the British insurance company Amlin. The tournament began on 7 October 2010, with the final played on 20 May 2011 at Cardiff City Stadium, the day before the 2011 Heineken Cup Final in the same city at Millennium Stadium. A total of 23 teams from six countries participated. The competition began with 20 teams; three more teams that began their seasons in the Heineken Cup parachuted into the knockout stage. Cardiff Blues did not defend their title, as by winning the 2009–10 cup, they qualified for the 2010–11 Heineken Cup, and did not parachute into the Challenge Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008–09 Ulster Rugby season</span> Provincial professional playing season

The 2008–09 Ulster Rugby season was Ulster's 15th season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and their only full season under head coach Matt Williams.

References

  1. ↑ "Bloodgate 10 years on: Tom Williams on rugby's biggest scandal". BBC Sport. 11 April 2019.
  2. ↑ "European Rugby Cup - Decision of appeal committee in appeal by Tom Williams held at the Radisson SAS Hotel, 301 Argyle Street, Glasgow - 17 August 2009" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  3. ↑ "Quins escape further action in bloodgate scandal". AFP. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  4. ↑ Roycroft-Davis, Chris (18 August 2009). "Harlequins have let down all of rugby". The Times.
  5. ↑ "Quins chairman falls on his sword over 'Bloodgate'". The Independent. 29 August 2009.
  6. ↑ 'Bloodgate' doctor is suspended BBC News, 16 September 2009
  7. ↑ "Harlequins avoid ban from Europe". BBC Sport. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
  8. ↑ "Bloodgate Scandal will Forever Haunt Quins". BBC Sport. 26 March 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  9. ↑ "Bloodgate: Dean Richards had 'central control', says judgment of ERC hearing".
  10. ↑ "Richards resigns Harlequins post".
  11. ↑ "Richards banned for three years".
  12. ↑ "Dean Richards handed worldwide ban". The Times. London. 18 August 2009. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
  13. ↑ "Bloodgate doc: I sliced his lip open". Daily Mirror . 23 August 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  14. ↑ "Bloodgate doctor Wendy Chapman given warning by disciplinary panel". The Guardian. London. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.