URC 2022 Thread

Ospreys got a good shagging from the Bulls.

Watching the Bulls highlights and I'm awed at the backline play. Very good players.

Ospreys played Sharks yesterday and lost 25-10.

The Ospreys squad was effected by Ecoli with a number of members of the travelling party being sick.

So far this season 4 teams have gone to Durban. 3 have been effected by Ecoli.

What's the old saying. Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.

This needs to be investigated properly. Are touring teams using the same facilities? Hotels? Training grounds? Restaurants?

Meanwhile Welsh teams occupying 3 of the bottom 4 spots..... again!

6/9 today makes it 11/14 going into the final day

#BestLeague

The statement from Benetton is PR garbage. They claim racism is not part of their culture and values, something that they have always demonstrated with "actions more than words"

... before failing to commit to a single action over this.

None of that is specified. They don't even commit to an investigation.

If it was a blind draw, you ask the guy to name who laughed, and suspend them all until the perpetrator owns up. Then you fire him.

They won't do anything close to this, but that's how you show that you actually take this seriously.

I mean, yes? What's the alternative? I've heard "education" being touted. How long must Troare (who has done absolutely nothing wrong here) be expected to wait for such an intervention to bring about tangible meaningful change in the attitudes of his colleagues? How long does he have to watch the club accommodate people that consider him below them?

As someone has already touched on, do you seriously expect to keep your job if you gave a black colleague a Christmas gift of a banana?

It cannot be "ignorant joking".

Thats an impossible explanation of what took place here.

Its a racist gesture. It was meant as a racist gesture. It was reinforced as a racist gesture by those others present. It was received as a racist gesture by the player.

Its deliberate workplace racism and the only question is, what the total number of those to be fired for it will be?

What would you prefer?

Say you worked in the UK, only Irish person, and someone gave you a rotten potato and a copy of the penal laws for Secret Santa. A good chunk of the room laughs.

You'd feel ok coming to work each day after that?

Thats irrelevant.

Its about what the Club ought to do, under their code of conduct and under whatever employment and equality laws exist in Italy.

The player is not the arbiter. Nor should any victim be asked to be.

Yes. From whatever chair I ever sit in, I'm confident that I will consider it more important for workplaces to be free from racist bullying, than for racist white people to keep "their livelihood".

I'd be interested in hearing what you think is the sensible way to approach this, genuinely.

You, and several other posters, are correct in saying that this type of racism is a commonplace in Italy. I lived there for five years and observed numerous instances of it. There were tricky situations where i was strongly tempted to hurt teenagers who were shouting this stuff at Africans in the street - bit of a dilemma that.

It starts from the top In Italy, leading figures in sport and politics think they're hilarious when they make jokes about black people and bananas etc and then try and brush off criticism on the grounds that it was just a joke. In Rome there's a rugby club with a strong antiracist/antifascist profile, and they get a lot of this crap at away games (aimed at them because of their politics not their ethnicity).

What can be done? I think you're right that sacking isn't the answer. A few options which occur to me, in escalating order:

- a significant fine, money to be assigned to an organisation of Traore's choice.

- identify those involved and oblige them to coach kids in areas with large immigrant populations (plenty of these in the Veneto where Treviso are based). Personal contact with people outside of one's usual social sphere is often the best medicine for these attitudes.

- dock points from Treviso in either the UCR or Challenge Cup i.e. hold the club responsible. When racist behaviours have consequences for the whole team and the financial success of the club, it will become clear to the players involved that there is a price to be paid for their banter, and the peer dynamics can be mobilised in a constructive direction.

Obviously any/all of these potential sanctions would have to be written into player contracts/competition rules.