Dear, oh dear, oh dear

PICTURE: Welsh scrum half and former Mr Duffy, Mike Phillips, being 'restrained' by bouncers outside McDonalds in Cardiff city centre in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

A few questions/observations:

(1) Once again the off-field behaviour of international rugby players is called into question, particularly Welsh ones.

(2) For once the WRU and the Welsh management have taken a hardline (if not consistent) approach.

(3) Perhaps Warren Gatland should think about calling the bouncer into the Welsh squad?

(4) I may have missed something, but since when did McDonalds employ bouncers?

Rebel without a clue

"ANYTHING YOU CAN DO..."

Calm down dears!

I don't know, I go away for a couple of weeks and seemingly all hell breaks loose.

First I read that my favourite orange person is in the process of being fired by Toulon after proving that he has the drinking capacity of small gerbil called Gerald. After allegedly drunkenly slagging off certain esteemed team mates following Toulon's recent victory over Toulouse and earning himself a slap from Aussie scrum half Matt Henjak, the club's president, Mourad Boudjellal, has decided that the artist formerly known as Gavin Church is “difficult to manage.” No shit, Sherlock.

I then noted that another orange Welshman and M4 buggy-meister, Andy Powell, earlier this month managed to get himself suspended by Wasps following a pub brawl with QPR football supporters following which he lost two pints of blood and received 10 stitches in a head wound after being struck by a bar stool. And, to make it a hat-trick for the Welsh, I saw that lock Bradley Davies had been arrested following a fight involving over 30 people outside a Pembrokeshire pub.

Not to be outdone and doing her bit both for her country and for the fairer sex, I read that England under 20 flanker, Kayleigh Callaway-Bawden, was convicted this month of criminal damage and resisting arrest after a cider-fuelled rampage in which she smashed a window and swore and spat at police officers called to arrest her (and, once handcuffed, apparently still tried to ­headbutt the ground!!).

Perhaps I'm feeling a little too chilled following my holiday but, in the words immortalised by Michael Winner and David Cameron, all I can say to each of them is CALM DOWN DEAR!

Respect

So, Wayne Rooney dementedly yells  #~@* OFF! into a TV camera (why he was so angry after scoring a hat trick is anyone’s guess) and we are plunged once again into debating the respective merits of association and rugby football.

With the Football Association desperately trying to breath life into its “Respect” campaign – designed at reducing the ridiculous levels of dissent from players towards referees – commentators are quick to compare the on-field actions of professional footballers with their rugby playing counterparts. Why, they ask, can’t football be like rugby, where respect for the referee is paramount, where there is no dissent and where only the team captains are permitted to ‘clarify’ refereeing decisions?

Methinks such commentators are living in cloud cuckoo land. Perhaps, just perhaps, such a utopian scenario once existed but, while not yet at the levels of angrily surrounding and intimidating match officials as is commonly witnessed in football, rugby players are by no means faultless when it comes to their relationship with referees. At the professional level cheating (in the form of getting away with whatever you can) is rife, as is more or less constant chat from players attempting to influence decisions. Open dissent is less common (although not unheard of) from players, but it is now almost expected that a team’s coach will indulge in pre-match attempts to influence the referee and post match criticism of the referee’s decisions.

At grassroots level it is perhaps even worse. Certainly since I laced up my boots again in 2007 I’ve noticed a far greater antipathy towards referees from players in general and most matches I’ve played have been accompanied by a continuous soundtrack of moans, complaints and backchat.

So, while I’m not suggesting for one moment that a rugby referee’s problems are at the levels experienced by his football equivalent, let’s not kid ourselves that everything in the rugby garden is coming up roses. What’s going on in rugby isn’t great and, unless we’re careful, might just end up being the thin end of the wedge.

Perspective

Crikey. The issue of rugby players' off-field behaviour is, it seems, a little bit more extreme in South Africa where 34 year old ex-Blue Bulls flanker, Joseph Ntshongwana, appeared in court in Durban this week charged with three counts of murder, one of attempted murder and one of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

According to reports the former Blue Bull embarked on a two-week killing spree, hacking three men to death with an axe (one victim allegedly being completely decapitated) and trying to kill a fourth.

The case follows that of another former Blue Bull, prop Bees Roux, who was charged last August with beating police officer Ntshimane Mogale to death after having been pulled over on suspicion of drink driving.

All of which, I guess, puts Mr Foden's little spat with a taxi driver into some sort of perspective...

Idiot

As big a fan as I am of Ben Foden as a player, I was mightily unimpressed by news of the England fullback's arrest on suspicion of criminal damage following an alleged altercation with a taxi driver in central London at 3.30 on Monday morning.

Very Dennis Wise, and hardly what is expected of an international rugby player.

The RFU's current stance is that it is “a matter for the player and his club at the current time” although I sincerely hope it is not left like that.

The RFU quite rightly threw the book at Delon Armitage for his behaviour recently and, if the allegations against Foden have any substance, there’s little doubt he should face disciplinary sanctions.

Perhaps a good slap from Martin Johnson would knock a bit of sense into him.

Pathway to Problems?

Something that appears to have snuck under the radar in recent weeks...

Apparently the British government in its infinite wisdom (and assuming that nothing changes after the Election next month) is planning to clamp down on "booze-fuelled" student rugby clubs.

This is in response to a report, entitled 'Pathways to Problems' from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs in which it attacks a "culture of excessive drinking" in universities and colleges.

The report follows a couple of incidents publicised earlier this year involving student rugby clubs.

De Montfort University Rugby Club were recently fined and suspended for 30 weeks by the RFU after they admitted charges related to a series of fairly unpleasant initiation rites, while apparently the men's rugby team at St Catharine's College, Cambridge was disbanded after complaints about their behaviour at a rowdy party at a local pub.

Both incidents were "off campus" and, I believe, therein lies the lesson. Nearly three years ago I blogged about the negative impact of the stereotypical rugger bugger. What can I say? I was clearly going through a Victor Mature moment at the time. Nevertheless, the principle must still be that, if you're going to disgrace yourselves collectively, then keep it close to home. Don't do it in public, or the result will be some ridiculously over-the-top anti-fun legislation

With stunning unoriginality, alcohol awareness charity Drinkaware has managed to leap aboard the bandwagon with the comment: "Taking part in drinking games is never a good idea."

The thing is, in my experience, taking part in drinking games is nearly always a splendid idea.