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Ashton Hewitt's anti-racism message has reached new heights with PRO14 takeover

(Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images)

Dragons player Ashton Hewitt has received widespread support for his PRO14 article exposing racism that is prevalent in rugby and society as a whole. A first-person piece by the winger will appear in all Guinness PRO14 programmes this weekend and next to amplify the message of Rugby Against Racism.

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Being a person of Welsh and Jamaican heritage, he wrote about what ‘black lives matter’ means to him, his experience of racism growing up and the positivity and progress that has come from speaking out and starting these conversations. 

The online response to his article has been hugely positive, as neither Hewitt nor the Dragons have shirked away from a sensitive subject. In the message, he addressed the support he has received in the past online, although it has not been without abuse, which unfortunately comes with the territory on social media. 

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He said: “While it’s not always easy to be confronted with opinions you do not agree with, as well as the overwhelming abuse dished out by Twitter trolls, I’m pleased to be able to say that the positivity that has come as a result of speaking out about racism outweighs the negativity.

“Furthermore, I can’t express how encouraging the support from fans has been. It has truly shown how great the game of rugby is, with it not only being Dragons fans sending me positive messages and shutting down the trolls of Twitter in my defence but rugby fans from all over (although some have wished for a bad performance when playing their team!).”

The 25-year-old has been commended for helping expose the racism he and others have faced, which he explained “has come as a shock to many of the people in the rugby community”. This lack of knowledge of what people in Hewitt’s position experience is perhaps why this article has been deemed so pivotal. 

PRO14 CEO Martin Anayi was quick to praise a “role model” like Hewitt in sharing this message. He said: “Racism and discrimination have no part in our game, or in our society, and we must actively push and strive for a fully equal playing field in everything we do. 

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“I’d like to thank him for his drive and passion, indeed for challenging us to do better and encourage everyone to take a few minutes over the weekend to read what he has to say.”

Ashton called out the PRO14 some weeks ago on Twitter after noticing that the unity moment which had happened prior to the matches when the league restarted in August was discontinued.

https://twitter.com/jonnarbett/status/1311982677650800643

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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