The Thoughts of Chairman Moore by Brian Moore

Author:Brian Moore [Moore, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857201317
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

52

‘Bloodgate’

July 2009

Background

I was a co-commentator for Radio 5 Live on the Heineken Cup semi-final in which Leinster beat Harlequins 6–5. When Quins fly-half Nick Evans returned to the field after already being substituted and because of an alleged blood injury to Tom Williams, also a replacement, I said, ‘Well, at best that is gamesmanship, and at worst downright cheating.’What transpired was labelled ‘Bloodgate’, an extraordinary tale of intrigue from which nobody emerges well.

Under the laws of the competition, a player who had already been substituted could not return to the field unless he was replacing a player who had to leave because of a blood injury; if a player was injured in another way, however serious, a substituted player could not return. It was widely known that for some time teams had been finding ways to get round this stipulation by reopening cuts, the use of already bloodied towels and the like; the big difference here was that Dean Richards, Harlequins’ Director of Rugby, got caught.

A timeline is set out below to give the reader an idea of how the saga developed. Note the delay in bringing the initial hearing, and then the truncated manner in which the complex appeals were held. Note also that, despite all the appeal hearings taking place on the same day, the independent European Rugby Cup (ERC) disciplinary panel chose to release only the Williams transcript on 25 August, waiting until 2 September to release the remaining evidence; they have repeatedly refused to explain this publicly.

The regulation which Richards was trying to circumvent was introduced in rugby in the early 1990s as a response to the then perceived threat of HIV being passed from player to player as a result of cuts; in fact we now know the virus is not transmittable in the way originally thought, so, ironically, the measure is completely unnecessary.

Timeline of 2009 Events

12 April

– Leinster beat Quins to go through to Heineken Cup final (which they won).

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