Tuesday 10 March 2020

Marler Incident is part of the wind upculture that Eddie Jones has introduced.


England's Joe Marler has been rightly cited following Saturday's Six Nations win over Wales.
Prop Marler, 29, grabbed Alun Wyn Jones' genitals during the first half at Twickenham, with the Wales captain calling for action after the match.
Lock Lawes, 31, was cited for a dangerous tackle during his side's 33-30 victory.
The pair will appear before a disciplinary hearing in Dublin on Thursday.
The decisions were made by an independent citing commissioner.
England centre Manu Tuilagi will also be at Thursday's hearing following his red card for a high tackle late in the fixture.
Marler could be in for a long lay-off, with four levels of punishment length under World Rugby rules.
The shortest ban for "grabbing, twisting or squeezing the genitals" is 12 weeks, with a top-e
nd level of 24 weeks or more, up to a maximum of 208.
Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones has asked World Rugby to investigate an apparent grab by England prop Joe Marler during their Six Nations clash at Twickenham

"There's a lot of footage that has been shown. It seems like a lot of supporters saw what happened," Jones said after both sides' penultimate Six Nations game.
"It's very frustrating that we talk a lot about TMOs (television match officials) and footage reviews, yet there doesn't seem to be a lot of it happening."

World Rugby's punishment for what it terms "testicle grabbing or twisting or squeezing" ranges from a suspension of 12 weeks to 24 weeks or more.A statement from Six Nations officials on Monday read: "The England No 1 Joe Marler has been cited for an alleged infringement of Law 9.27. (A player must not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship - hair pulling or grabbing; spitting at anyone; grabbing, twisting or squeezing the genitals and/or breasts in the case of female players), during the Guinness Six Nations England v Wales match last Saturday.
"A disciplinary hearing will take place on Thursday 12.03.2020 in Dublin."

As soon as I saw the incident  I shouted Yellow Card, it looked to me that Marler was deliberately , trying to get Alun Wyn Jones, to retaliate and get aRed Card by throwing a punch.


I must admit I did laugh WALES legend  made a joke on live TV about Joe Marler's groin grab on Alun Wyn Jones. 


During ITV’s half-time commentary, openly gay rugby pundit and former Welsh star Garth Thomas joked that: “It’d never happened in my day, and I’m upset about that, as I’d never have retired.” But on reflection I agree with the responseAndy Goode.
Goode tweeted: “Imagine if someone touched another man or woman up in the workplace and then someone joked about it on TV. People have admiration for Gareth Thomas with what he’s been through and opened up about but I wonder if something similar was done in a homophobic way he’d joke about it?”

Supporter pf Marler  claim that he is a bit of a joker and it was a form of banter.


But I suspect he is in fact the sort of locker room bully who belittles weaker people  and thinks everyone apart from the victim is laughing along with him.


The whole incident needs to be examined  like sledging in Cricket needs to be examined as a a case of bringing the game into disrepute.


It should also reach managers , I have often thought that Eddie Jones the England Manager needs to be warned  by World Rugby about his Pre-match "winding up" of opponents .

If Alun Wyn Jones had responded with a punch , then he would have been sent off, and whilst England undoubtedly were superior  to Wales in the match they could have produced a much higher points margin

In our desire to win sportsmanship should not go out the window.


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