The Rugby Football Union says respect is a core value – so why the silence over Eddie Jones’s broadside aimed at Ben O’Keeffe?
When Peter Wheeler, then the chief executive of Leicester, used a newspaper column to criticise the referee Steve Lander for some of his decisions in the match against Bristol in 2002, he was summoned to appear before a Rugby Football Union disciplinary panel and, after being found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute, relieved of £3,000.
“The RFU will not condone public criticism of match officials through the media, because it will damage the game by undermining confidence and creating divisions,” said the panel’s chairman, Jeff Blackett, who was then in charge of discipline at Twickenham. “This sentence, therefore, is designed not only to penalise Peter Wheeler for his actions but also to send a clear message to the game that those who criticise match officials in public in the future will be dealt with severely.”
Written by Paul Rees
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/mar/12/eddie-jones-referee-england-wales-six-nations-rugby under the title “
“. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
