Can you hear the circus music?
Violence in club rugby in the Western Cape is back in the spotlight, after escaping the lime-light for a few years. It didn't go away, it was just swept under the carpet for a while. But a number of recent events - the death of a player in Ceres, a player hospitalised in Rawsonville and another hospitalised after a brawl in Milnerton - saw to it that the disgraceful behaviour of rugby thugs take centre stage again. Rugby365 takes another look at what is fast becoming a circus, the ineptitude of the officials who are suppose to stop this madness.
Our columnist Duncan Bech reflects on what he makes of England's coaching shake-up and gives us his views on the possible return of a certain knight of the realm...
What makes this situation so unacceptable is that the same culprits (clubs) who hit the headlines a couple of years ago, are again involved - the likes of Delicious, Collegians, etc. Back then they came up with the most ridiculous excuses for their behaviour.
But typical of the high-handed, dismissive attitude of officials in the region these hooligans and their clubs received no more than a slap on the wrist.
The result was that they continued their disgraceful behaviour with impunity. In fact the violence has escalated.
Yes, we now have a death on our hands and the excuses are as absurd as the behaviour of these clubs.
One ambitious politician recently suggested it is because "farmers mistreat their workers" that rugby players kick opponents to death on the field. Yeah right, my boss doesn't pay me enough at 365, now I'm allowed to kick some poor sod to death on the rugby field. Makes sense!
If it wasn't so serious it would have been funny. But death ain't funny, it is painful and unnecessary.
And the reason why there was a death is because officials failed to act decisively in the first place.
Last week a Western Province Rugby Union (WPRU) disciplinary panel suspended the Under-20 teams of Collegians and Cape Town Harlequins for the remainder of the 2006 season after a mass brawl and incidents of foul play in a match between the two teams last weekend. (See the WPRU statement here!)
But this will not deter these thugs. They will be back next year, thinking it is okay, they only missed a few game last year. They will continue their violent behaviour.
What has happened is that junior rugby in the Milnerton area has effectively been killed off. Yes, an entire junior programme has been wiped off the map because of the inefficient actions of the WPRFU.
Just ask Harlequins Under-20 coaches Zelim Nel and Darin Viljoen. All their hard work has been undone because players are no longer prepared to risk their lives - which is exactly what you do when you play against these clubs.
We will publish an open letter from Nel and Viljoen, as well as show you a clip from the game, so you can see how these clubs behave.
To watch the video clip click here!
(Right-click on the file and then "save target as" to download and view the video.)
Here is the letter from Nel and Viljoen!
On 15 July 2006, we (the Harlequins Colts U20s) hosted the Collegians U20s.
Within the opening minutes of the fixture two things became clear: Harlequins were too strong for the visitors, and Collegians were determined to claw their way through this game by means of physical and verbal abuse.
Incidents of violence and hooliganism from the visitors littered the first half as my players found themselves on the receiving end of stamping, punching and kicking whenever the ball moved away from the breakdown - taking with it the referee's line of sight.
Just after half-time a Collegians player was red-carded for calling a Colts player (anark in his report.
Twelve minutes into the second half a Collegians player stomped on our flanker's ankle as he lay on the ground at a ruck inside our 22-metre area - the flanker kicked at the Collegians player's calf to get him off his ankle. That's when the Collegians player stepped over our flanker and kicked him in the face, like he was kick-starting a motorcycle (You can see this on the video clip above).
The Collegians team had now been provoking the Harlequins for close to forty minutes and this final incident of reckless violence pushed our players beyond their means to contain themselves. Two players ran in to protect their team-mate, tackling the lawless perpetrator away from the flanker. As the tackler tried to get to his feet, a Collegians player jogged in from the side and soccer-kicked his head. Our player slumped backwards to the ground, temporarily unconscious.
At this point both teams' reserves ran onto the field to separate players, while the flanker's mother ran to evaluate her son's condition.
The Harlequins were leading 21-0 when the referee called the game off. A Collegians player screamed at the spectators, "Rugby's not a game for pussies, it's a game for men!" This is a poor indictment of the Collegians' psyche because, again, they were down 21-0. The score was obviously irrelevant to the hooligans in the Collegians team.
The Harlequins coaching staff quickly separated our players from the brawl and immediately ushered our team into the change-rooms to avoid any further escalation. Conversely, the Collegians representatives did little but watch events unfold, completely unmoved by the violence.
Fast-forward to the WPRU disciplinary hearing. Besides the fact that the hearing started 40 minutes late - I think it was so that the chairman could enjoy a catered meal - we also had to carry our own chairs into the hearing because the boardroom hadn't actually been set up for the meeting.
Very professional.
Prior to the hearing, we'd specifically requested a DVD player so that we could play the footage from the game as evidence. But, like the chairs, perhaps we should have brought our own TV and DVD player with us because it was obviously too much of an effort for the union to provide this base facility.
Throughout the hearing, Collegians showed great consistency by emulating the performance of their Under-20 team - ducking and diving, they used misdirection to sucker-punch those present with half-truths.
On Friday, 21 July, WP sent us their findings: Herman Abrahams, head of club rugby (who wasn't present at the disciplinary meeting) has banned both clubs from U20 rugby for the remainder of the 2006 season.
The Collegians player who was responsible for kicking our flanker in the head has been singled out for scapegoat treatment at a separate hearing. Banning one player for five years isn't going to fix anything - the Collegians club needs to be held accountable, not individual players.
Essentially, WP's verdict intimates the following: the three Harlequins reserves that ran onto the field to break up the fight - and the fact that our flanker's mom ran to her son's side - is an equivalent offence to the Collegians physically assaulting our players throughout the match, taunting them with a documented racial slur, initiating a violent incident that left two Harlequins players incapacitated and also 'invading' the pitch with their reserves.
Ultimately, the message to coaches out there is this: if your team is scheduled to play a bunch of hooligans that have a notoriously bad disciplinary record, then the onus is on YOU to have the foresight to abandon the game the week before, pay the union a fine for doing so, give your opponents the points, and let them get on with punching and kicking whoever is ignorant enough to play them in the future.
That way, the dirtiest teams will rise to the top of the league without actually having to play any rugby at all.
Alternatively, you could play these kinds of teams, wait until they've actually kicked one of your players to death, and then get the points after they've been banned.
I guess it comes down to whether or not you think your players' lives are worth more than the points.
The union apparently refused to take Collegians' appalling disciplinary record into account, stating that it had no bearing on our case. What is the point of keeping a record if it has no bearing? Anyway, at the time of writing this letter, the Collegians 1st XV have just been in another rugby brawl at their home ground against SK Walmers. The visitors had to run to their cars to get away from the mayhem.
Are we to assume that the union will once again not consider Collegians' record in the face of the club's third incident in as many weeks (their 1st XV were involved in a punch-up with Tygerberg a few weeks ago)?
The price we've paid for hosting the Collegians last week is as follows: all three of the U20 teams that we spent the past nine months assembling from scratch (there was no U20 program in our area prior to 2006) have been disbanded - most of them have said they will not play rugby again.
Personally, I have no intention of trying to develop rugby like this again, just so that WP Rugby can squash us when we're drawn to host the next hooligan team.
This will consequently dent our U16 program because, with no intermediate team to feed to, these youngsters have nowhere to go.
The group of Harlequins from the Dunoon and Joe Slovo Park settlements - most of whom were very talented players - will also have to find something else to do four times a week.
The guys from Let's Play must be really impressed with Mr Abrahams' decision.
The ban has crushed a burgeoning youth program and punished players for being physically abused - our flanker who was booted in the face has been banned for the remainder of the season because his mom ran to his side!?
While her intrusion onto the field is against a WP bylaw, her response is best mitigated by DG Spannenberg (the Chairman of Rawsonville RFC) who said, "They carried on kicking [Riaan] until I ran onto the pitch", in the wake of Riaan Loots' death.
How many months were the Springboks banned for after Piet van Zyl not only ran onto the pitch, but punched the referee?
In the end, a few WP officials have been embarrassed by the incident and - knowing full well that the media only caught wind of the story after enraged Harlequins parents contacted the Press - I'm fairly confident that the extent of our punishment is due in large part to the airing of dirty laundry.
I guess Brad Pitt was right, the first rule of Fight Club really is, "don't talk about Fight Club".
Zelim Nel & Darin Viljoen
Harlequins U20 Coaches
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