Note: This article is from the Guardian. Rugby player Mike Tindall is the husband of Queen Elizabeth’s granddaughter Zara Phillips.
The judgment of senior Twickenham officials is under fresh scrutiny after Mike Tindall had his ejection from England’s elite squad dismissed on appeal. Tindall had his fine for his behaviour in Queenstown during the World Cup reduced from £25,000 to £15,000. The decision further erodes Rob Andrew’s position as the Rugby Football Union’s elite rugby director.
Tindall’s contract is due to finish at the end of next month and he is unlikely to be included in the Six Nations squad but this verdict is considerably less draconian than the original. The Rugby Players Association, which supported Tindall’s appeal, described the original sanction as “extraordinary” and “unprecedented”.
The decision handed down by Martyn Thomas, the acting RFU chief executive, did not exonerate the Gloucester centre but indicated that the punishment delivered by Andrew, following an investigation by Karena Vleck, the union’s legal and governance director, had been flawed.
“We accept there were mitigating factors which do not appear to have been taken into account to the extent that they might otherwise have been,” said Thomas. “Mike did not intentionally mislead the RFU team management when he stated he could not remember where he was on the night of 11 September and that he was relying on other people’s versions of events which were relayed to him.”
Thomas also said Tindall had been reprimanded for excessive drinking. He said: “There was no evidence of any suggestion of sexual impropriety of any nature with the woman in question and we accept the fact she is a family friend whom he has known for a long time.”
Thomas also took into account Tindall’s expression of “deep regret” during the appeal, as well as the apology he issued to Martin Johnson and the team “for the events which unfolded as a consequence”. His good off-field record during his Test career also counted in his favour, although the 33-year-old was not spared from criticism. “It is important to stress that we believe Mike’s behaviour fell way below that to be expected of somebody of his calibre and experience,” said Thomas. “He exposed himself to a very compromising position and exposed the rest of the team to damaging publicity.”
Tindall’s conduct may yet be taken into account when it comes to selection for the Six Nations squad. “We wish to make it clear that this decision does not prevent those deciding the composition of the EPS squad from taking into account this incident when making that decision,” said Thomas, who spent the weekend considering his verdict.
Andrew said Tindall’s conduct deserved serious censure and described his behaviour as “unacceptable” in his original statement. “We have considered all the evidence carefully and interviewed the players at length. These actions have not been taken lightly but we believe that in all these cases the sanctions are commensurate with the level of seriousness of what occurred,” he said this month. Others argued that Tindall was a scapegoat.
Whether or not the player extends his 75-cap career, during which he has scored 14 tries and earned an MBE for the 2003 World Cup triumph, the reduced sanction looks certain to heap further pressure on Andrew. The RFU management board meets on Tuesday to discuss leaks from the three reviews conducted into England’s World Cup failure. Andrew has made clear he does not consider himself entirely responsible for on-field problems but the management’s failure to deal adequately with the Queenstown fall-out and an incident involving a hotel chambermaid in Dunedin had significant effects.
With Johnson and the backs coach, Brian Smith, having resigned and Thomas set to leave the union next month, Andrew’s supporters argue that someone needs to stay to put in place short-term plans for the Six Nations. There is no question, however, that Tindall’s reinstatement further undermines the RFU’s battered credibility.
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Mike Tindall’s England career appears to be over after he was thrown out of England’s elite player squad and fined £25,000 by the Rugby Football Union, following events in Queenstown during the World Cup. James Haskell and Chris Ashton have been handed suspended fines of £5,000 and warned about their future conduct, following an alleged incident in a hotel in Dunedin. The Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
Tindall, who has said he will appeal the decision, was the subject of extensive press attention after a night out at the Altitude Bar in Queenstown, after England’s 13-9 win over Argentina. CCTV footage from the bar showed Tindall, who is married to Zara Phillips, the daughter of Princess Anne, in conversation with an unnamed blonde woman.
The 33-year-old Gloucester centre has won 75 caps since making his England debut in 2000, scoring 14 tries. He was part of the 2003 World Cup-winning team.
The punishment handed down to Tindall is unprecedented. An RFU investigation conducted by Rob Andrew, the professional rugby director, and the legal and governance director, Kerena Vleck, found the Gloucester centre had been guilty of “unacceptable” behaviour.
Andrew said: “We have considered all the evidence carefully and interviewed the players at length. These actions have not been taken lightly but we believe that in all these cases the sanctions are commensurate with the level of seriousness of what occurred.
“Mike Tindall’s actions reached a level of misconduct that was unacceptable in a senior England player and amounted to a very serious breach of the EPS Code of Conduct. Whilst we acknowledge his previous good character it needs to be made clear that what he did will not be tolerated.
“Regarding the events in Dunedin, it should be stressed that the allegations of very serious wrong-doing made against Chris Ashton, Dylan Hartley and James Haskell by Annabel Newton, a member of staff at the team hotel, were entirely false. We do not believe the players had any intention to sexually harass or intimidate Ms Newton.
“However, the incident is precisely the kind of dangerous, compromising situation the players were warned about prior to departure for New Zealand and that they were specifically told to avoid in the EPS Code of Conduct. While we found that Dylan Hartley played no part in the ill-considered exchange with Annabel Newton, Chris Ashton and James Haskell’s behaviour on 9 September did breach the EPS Code of Conduct and they have each been given suspended fines of £5,000. If they commit any further breaches of the Code before 31 December 2012 the fines will become due.
“Finally, these episodes and the subsequent disciplinary action should stand as a strong reminder that the highest standards of personal conduct are expected from any England player on and off the field.”
The players have the right to appeal to the RFU acting chief executive, Martyn Thomas, within three working days.
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Mike Tindall warned Twickenham on Friday night that he would not allow them to end his England career without a fight and will appeal against the decision to fine him £25,000 and throw him out of the Elite Player Squad.
In a two-sentence statement the players’ union, the Rugby Players Association, said it had “noted the extraordinary fine handed down following the disciplinary process after the Rugby World Cup. Mike will be appealing [against] this unprecedented fine as per the terms of the EPS [elite player squad] agreement.”
Earlier, in a statement which administered a further buffeting to Martin Johnson’s tenure as England manager, the Rugby Football Union branded Tindall’s conduct in New Zealand as unacceptable in a senior England player and in breach of the tour agreement signed before the World Cup.
The RFU’s professional rugby director, Rob Andrew, and the legal and governance director, Karena Vleck, had taken evidence about the 33-year-old’s behaviour with a blonde in the now infamous Altitude Bar in Queenstown the day after England’s opening match against Argentina.
Tindall was Johnson’s captain in that game and the manager’s credibility is further damaged by £5,000 fines, suspended for a year, imposed on James Haskell and Chris Ashton, for behaviour involving a hotel worker in Dunedin. A fourth player, Dylan Hartley, the Northampton captain, was cleared of being involved with Haskell and Ashton but Friday’s ruling compounded Johnson’s difficulties on the field after he had gone on record as saying he trusted his players, intended to treat them as grown-ups and would not employ curfews or any other restrictions on their movements.
Andrew is also reviewing England’s performance in New Zealand before reporting to the Professional Game Board, which will decide whether Johnson should keep his job, if he wishes to. So far Johnson has not told Twickenham whether he wants to stay on and is known to have been particularly hurt by Tindall’s behaviour and the need to stand by his vice-captain and fellow World Cup winner from 2003 when it became clear that the Gloucester player had not told the whole story.
Tindall, who has 75 caps, initially said that he had returned to the team hotel after leaving the Altitude bar but changed his story when further footage emerged of him at another bar later in the evening. Johnson defended Tindall, saying that the player had made an “innocent mistake”, but it transpired that the blonde was a former girlfriend from Tindall’s time at Bath.
In a strong statement, Andrew said: “Mike Tindall’s actions reached a level of misconduct that was unacceptable in a senior England player and amounted to a very serious breach of the EPS code of conduct. While we acknowledge his previous good character, it needs to be made clear that what he did will not be tolerated.
“Regarding the events in Dunedin, it should be stressed that the allegations of very serious wrongdoing made against Chris Ashton, Dylan Hartley and James Haskell by Annabel Newton, a member of staff at the team hotel, were entirely false. We do not believe the players had any intention to sexually harass or intimidate Ms Newton. However, the incident is precisely the kind of dangerous, compromising situation the players were warned about prior to departure for New Zealand and that they were specifically told to avoid in the EPS code of conduct.”
“Rugby player drinks beer shocker” was how Johnson initially greeted inquiries when the Queenstown news broke but, after the mayhem of the past few weeks, Twickenham has found an issue into which it can get its teeth, even if another of Tindall’s former team-mates is less than impressed.
Austin Healey, once of Leicester and now of ESPN, accused Andrew of self-interest. Healey tweeted: “25k fine is wrong. Tindall has been made a scapegoat.. he set bad example but … Andrew trying to justify his position.”
England’s exit in the quarter-finals was their worst World Cup performance in 12 years but it was being let down by his players which has angered Johnson most, particularly when one of them – Tindall – had only just married the Queen’s granddaughter at a ceremony attended by a large number of England players and coaches.
There is also the issue of players ignoring repeated warnings after the experiences of 2008, when four of the England squad were accused of rape after a night in an Auckland bar. An inquiry cleared all four but threw up grounds to suggest that England players in particular were at risk, as Jonny Wilkinson suggested on Friday. “I think there’s always going to be people out there to get you and make things worse for you,” said England’s fly-half, who described Tindall as “a great, great guy and player”.
Andrew’s words were in marked contrast to a more relaxed approach in 2008 when, although the squad was selected by Johnson, Andrew managed the tour in his absence. However, with no one’s job currently safe at Twickenham, the call for more discipline is understandable.
“These episodes and the subsequent disciplinary action should stand as a strong reminder that the highest standards of personal conduct are expected from any England player on and off the field,” said Andrew.
Haskell and Ashton have until Tuesday to appeal. Representatives of Haskell declined to comment.
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Mike Tindall, England’s vice-captain at the World Cup and a central character in the Queenstown bar shenanigans, returns to action with Gloucester on Saturday accompanied by a warning that the clock is ticking on his club career.
Tindall is out of contract at the end of the season and his head coach at Kingsholm, Bryan Redpath, said on Wednesday that he expected an immediate impact from the 33-year-old in the home game against Saracens.
“He hasn’t struck a blow in anger this year for Gloucester,” Redpath said, confirming that Tindall would be in the squad.
“This is going to be his first chance to play, play and develop and then put his hand up and say I want to play more, I want to play well and want to keep playing rugby. If Mike plays well there is no reason not to keep him on for another year but, if he doesn’t, then we sit down and have a discussion and I say: ‘Mate, it’s not right for Gloucester rugby.’”
Tindall is one of 24 Gloucester players out of contract at the end of the season and Redpath said that while it is understandable, given his profile as an England player with 75 caps as well as being husband of the Queen’s granddaughter, that Tindall’s future causes extra interest, “it’s got nothing to do with the person”.
He said: “Every player that is out of contract has an opportunity to play well to further his career here. He has done well to stay in that [England] mix. He’s a battler … it’s one of his strengths, his durability. He’s had a lot of knocks but he’s got the mental strength to take the criticism and keep going.”
Alongside Tindall at some point on Saturday with be Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, the Samoan centre whose return to Gloucester was delayed by the string of on-off disciplinary hearings that followed criticism of the Welsh referee Nigel Owens and the World Cup itinerary forced on Samoa by the International Rugby Board.
After threatening to retire he has agreed to pay a fine of around £500 and accepted a suspended sentence.
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England rugby teams in New Zealand never seem to learn. As recently as 2008 they were embroiled in a high-profile sex scandal in Auckland, prompting the Rugby Football Union to warn its players to behave on tour in future. That stern edict appears to have been totally forgotten. Stick the following words together in any order – England captain, blonde, royal family, boobs, dwarf-throwing – and you have all the ingredients for global tabloid nirvana.
The moment that explosive mental cocktail enters the public domain the truth becomes largely irrelevant. It no longer matters that the vast majority of this England squad are hard-working, honest, polite young men dying to make their country proud at this Rugby World Cup. All they will see at home are the photos on Facebook, the nudge-nudge headlines and the recriminations. Should it matter if a rugby player gets drunk on his night off? If he is a professional sportsman representing England at a World Cup it is hardly the brightest move, whether blown out of proportion by the tabloid media or not.
No one, the Queen included, will be less amused than Martin Johnson. On the eve of departure he spoke of his absolute trust in his 30-man squad to handle themselves in a mature manner. “They are there to make sensible decisions … if I can’t trust them there is a simple choice for us to make,” he said last month. The next thing he knows his captain, Mike Tindall, is splashed across the Sun and the internet is awash with pictures of visibly worse-for-wear England players messing around late at night. They should have stuck to safer stuff like bungee-jumping and canyon-swinging.
For what it’s worth, those players involved apparently did nothing more scandalous than visit a bar, pose for a few pictures and return unaccompanied to their lakeside hotel. They even went out with the full permission of the management, who purposely chose Queenstown as a base this week to allow the players to relax following last Saturday’s tough game against Argentina. The locals have not been remotely offended. “They were great lads, not throwing the midgets, it was all light-hearted, good-humoured fun,” insisted Rich Deane, manager of Queenstown’s Altitude Bar. So that’s all right then. Prince Harry wasn’t even there.
But hang on. You would not catch the entire All Black squad doing something similar at this tournament. Nor the Wallabies. And they just happen to be the best teams in the world. They also happen to be coached by two hard-bitten Kiwis – Graham Henry and Robbie Deans – who know precisely how to manage 30 testosterone-filled blokes with plenty of evenings to fill. One England player, who had better remain nameless, said he could not believe his team management had allowed the squad to go out and get “as leathered as we did”. To which Johnson would presumably respond that he was not the one pouring the drinks down his players’ throats.
The root of the problem is that modern professional rugby players cannot quite decide how they want to be perceived. Do they want to be showbiz celebrities, living the high life, marrying into the royal family and enjoying all the financial trappings, at a significant cost to their anonymity? Or do they want to carry on in time-honoured fashion: working hard and playing harder, confident in the knowledge that whatever goes on on tour stays on tour and that 90% of the country still think Lawrence Dallaglio is captain of England? Doing both, in this era of smartphones and dim athletes, is increasingly unrealistic. We are not talking here, to be clear, about the odd quiet drink but serious late-night revelry. You do not have to be recently married into royalty to become public property when you are captaining England at a World Cup in New Zealand.
Johnson should know this better than anyone. He was at home attending the birth of his second child in June 2008 when a handful of England players were led astray in Auckland’s Pony Club, but he has made clear he expected no repeat on his watch. “We speak about it whenever we go away and we’ll do that again when we hit the ground,” he said a fortnight ago. “We have got to be careful. It is a different world to what it was 20 years ago. I remember going to New Zealand as a British Lion in 1993 and the boys had good fun but they have got to be careful not to put themselves and their team mates at risk.”
So why, then, did he give his squad carte blanche to get on it in New Zealand’s adventure capital, having played one of their four pool games? The royal aides who have been frantically trying to reach Tindall on the phone are not alone in wondering what on earth is going on.
As it happens, Lewis Moody is due back for Sunday’s game against Georgia and will lead the side, with Tindall expected to be rested. The public relations damage, though, has already been done. People have seen the dwarf-tossing headlines and the bungee-jump pictures and will probably leap to their own conclusions. Woe betide England if they now fall short of expectations in the weeks to come. Back home they will no longer be giving them the benefit of the doubt.
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This article titled “Mike Tindall reinstated in England elite squad and fine cut on appeal” was written by Robert Kitson, for The Guardian on Monday 28th November 2011 22.09 UTC