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Rugby authorities launch racism probe in wake of Luther Burrell allegations

By PA
Luther Burrell (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

English rugby authorities will launch a feedback process to discover the extent of racism in the game in the wake of allegations made by former England international Luther Burrell.

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Burrell last month received apologies from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Premiership Rugby Limited (PRL) after he said racism was “rife” within the sport and that racist “banter” had become normalised among team-mates.

The RFU, the sport’s national governing body, intends to begin a joint initiative alongside PRL and the Rugby Players Association (RPA) to uncover the scale of the issue.

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RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney has twice met Burrell in recent weeks and said the player will be “part of the process”.

Investigations are already under way to determine if any of the abuse experienced by the 32-year-old happened at Newcastle, his most recent club.

“It is very important and good for Luther to speak up,” said Sweeney. “He has been very open, very transparent. He’s explaining and telling us his feelings and his views in terms of what has happened.

“In terms of two tangible things coming out of that, we’ve reached an agreement with Newcastle in terms of what we have to do in there and to do the right appropriate independent review of what has happened there.

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“That is the first stage. And he is fully involved in that, he is aware of all of that.

“And then, secondly, we are setting up – I don’t have the right word for it right now – but it is basically a means and a process jointly with the RPA and with PRL to go out to the broader professional game and create the right environment for people to be able to feed back in their views.

“I think it is important to go through that because until you go through that, you don’t know, you don’t get your arms around the extent of the issue.”

Huddersfield-born centre Burrell, who is of Jamaican descent, said he has been on the receiving end of comments about slavery, bananas and fried chicken.

He hoped to “empower younger generations” by speaking out and also said he will “never name names but it’s gone on for too long”.

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Sweeney said: “I think Ellis (Genge, England prop) spoke, before the Australia match, and said that in his perception he didn’t feel that racism is rife.

“But then how do you define that? And what is the extent of the issue we need to address?

“Is it ignorant banter that may have been acceptable years ago but no longer is? Does that lead you down an education route in terms of what is acceptable in this day and age and what isn’t?

“So we are in that stage now, and Luther is involved in that second phase as well, so he will be part of that process.”

Burrell, who played for Sale and Northampton before representing Newcastle for the past two seasons following a spell in rugby league with Warrington, won 15 Test caps for England between 2014 and 2016, scoring four tries.

Sweeney said the RFU had previously taken steps to avoid a racism scandal similar to the one at Yorkshire Cricket Club, where charges were brought against “a number of individuals” by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

“After the Yorkshire situation – and I don’t want to critique another sport – we said, ‘let’s test our processes if we had a similar situation’,” he said.

“How would we have handled that? We had a different mechanism in place to deal with that.

“The reaction to Luther’s comments was instantaneous in terms of ‘how do we work with Luther and others to find solutions?’.

“You can never be complacent but it’s very high on our radar. We’ve got to make sure we’ve got the right systems and the right approach to manage them.”

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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