Oval Talk: Rugby losing ground

Eurosport - Tue, 30 Jun 17:22:00 2009

An easy question for you: what do Ireland's Neil Best and Alan Quinlan, England's Dylan Hartley and Romania's Marius Tincu all have in common?

Gethin Jenkins - Wales - 0

For those struggling for the answer - very few I'd imagine - let's add the names of Italy's Sergio Parisse and South Africa's Schalk Burger to make it even more obvious.

The answer, if you need reminding, is that they have all been banned for eye-gouging - the most heinous of rugby crimes - in recent seasons.

It might be because the Burger incident occurred last weekend in one of rugby's epic matches, and that the controversy lingered due to the ridiculous post-match comments of his coach Peter de Villiers, but OT has a sense that gouging is on the increase.

Other incidences include the muddled accusations from the Ospreys earlier this season when they claimed their players were victims of gouging in their match with Leicester.

A few years ago, Brian O'Driscoll complained in his book that he was gouged by an Argentina player, only for the Ireland skipper to then be accused by Gavin Henson of a performing a similar act on the Wales centre.

A little research on the subject and it is easy to find other high-profile cases of gouging in recent rugby history. Oliver Azam, Mauro Bergamasco and Seru Rabeni can also be added the list of offenders.

So has eye-gouging become more prevalent in the modern game or has it just become more difficult for perpetrators to get away with it due to the media coverage?

Has the intensity and pressure to get the slightest advantage in the professional game forced more players into such underhand behaviour, or have the incidences that do occur just been picked up by the cameras and highlighted in the press?

In France, where eye-gouging seems to have been part of the win-at-home-at-all-costs culture, they call it 'La Fourchette', which in direct translation means 'the fork'.

In his excellent biography 'Rugby Mercenary', lock John Daniel describes how in 15 years of New Zealand rugby he was gouged twice, but lost count of the number of times it happened in his first few months playing top-tier rugby in France.

According to Daniel, La Fourchette was an accepted "speciality" in French rugby and he openly admits to being guilty of the same infringement when he realised its impact, along with the fact it was pretty much expected of him.

But while gouging might have been an accepted part of French rugby culture - which in the past had a distinctly violent edge to it - it is not something that was especially commonplace in other rugby nations.

Yes it happened, but the recent rash of suspensions indicates that it could be on the rise.

To a man, every player, coach and official involved in rugby agrees that there is no place for gouging in the sport, and yet it continues.

Which suggests that the penalties are not fitting the crime: eight weeks, as Burger received, for an act that could very easily have affected Luke Fitzgerald's eyesight seems somewhat disproportionate.

Maybe it is time the authorities took a tougher stance on gougers, with Hartley's 26-weeks being the minimum for such an offense.

A football blog on this website earlier this week accused rugby of losing the moral high-ground when it came to on-field behaviour, and after a season blighted by gouging it is hard to disagree.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 10 of 10

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  1. 12 month ban, simple. Every one who has played this­ game has at some point done something i try to put a­ player out of the game, well, every forward at least,­ but going for the eyes is just unacceptable, what's­ an 8 week ban, even 8 international games would be­ better, whats he missing out on, the 1st one he is­ going to miss is a nothing game now really seeing that­ they have won the series...

    From tom l, on Tue 30 Jun 11:21PM
  2. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    all rugby fans are sausage jockeys

    From mike, on Tue 30 Jun 10:33PM

  3. When will the IRB put an end to this are we waiting­ until someone loses there eye sight. Where there is­ positive evidence to show that the gouging was a­ deliberate act then that player should receive a life­ time ban from rugby in any position

    From fordellman, on Tue 30 Jun 10:23PM

  4. "In France, where eye-gouging seems to have been­ part of the win-at-home-at-all-costs culture."­ That is probably why New Zealanders, Argentinian,­ Italians, English and South Africans come to play to­ France...Yeah right...Enough cliches, get a life,­ O'Rorke!

    From grandbaganna2001, on Tue 30 Jun 9:27PM

  5. it is shameful when players decide to resort to eye­ gouging to try and make their team have an upper hand­ and is a disgrace and they should have game bans­ instead of these week bans when no rugby is played.

    From paulandlynnejones, on Tue 30 Jun 7:59PM

  6. In total agreement, bans should be for a certain amount­ of matches, rather than a few weeks. also 8 weeks is­ too lenient for eye gouging, should be half a year­ plus; depending on the situation. was gouged myself and­ was partially blinded in my left-eye because of it. has­ no place in this game, and must be punished more­ severely!!!

    From dvdtricker, on Tue 30 Jun 7:03PM

  7. Using Burger as an example, is it really effective to­ ban him for 8 weeks when there won't actually be­ too many games of rugby played during that period? I­ agree it should have been a longer ban but would it not­ be better to ban him for a certain amount of games,­ i.e. 8 games instead of 8 weeks?

    From mark h, on Tue 30 Jun 5:32PM

  8. ban for life should be announced and it will make­ players think twice

    From Dr Evil, on Tue 30 Jun 5:29PM

  9. i agree with stronger penalties for gouging, i think a­ six month ban would be appropriate and could stop it­ happening, also i think that it should be writen into­ the players contract that if found guilty of gouging­ then they would not be paid for the course of their­ ban, thats will hit them where it hurts. I myself have­ been eye gouged and as i wear contacts it stoped me­ from wearing them for a week or so, its not a nice­ experience

    From dhiggon, on Tue 30 Jun 4:37PM

  10. Absolutely agree ... as a South African I was ashamed­ of the action, think Burger should have been given and­ red card and banned for a year, and, exciting as the­ game turned out to be, would have liked the Lions to­ win (which they very nearly did as a result of the­ yellow card .... okay, okay brits ... and excellent­ scrumming)

    From parkmungo, on Tue 30 Jun 4:36PM
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