Sapolu to quit rugby
16 Oct 2011
Samoa centre Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu has responded to the outcome of his disciplinary hearing by saying that he doesn’t want to play rugby any longer.
The Sunday Star Times reported that Sapolu was sanctioned for criticising the International Rugby Board. Following the outcome of Saturday’s hearing, Sapolu tweeted: ‘I do not want to play rugby anymore. One thing is for sure, my children definitely wont be.’
The IRB agreed to suspend Sapolu’s six-month ban providing that he kept his emotions and opinions in check over the next two years. Rugby’s ruling body also demanded that he attend a refereeing course, do 100 hours of community service and apologise to referee Nigel Owens who he accused of being racist and biased following the Pool D clash between Samoa and South Africa.
Given Sapolu’s most recent tweet about quitting rugby, it’s unlikely that he will meet these demands.
On Saturday, independent Judicial Officer Judge Jeff Blackett (England) heard detailed evidence from the player and his representatives regarding alleged breaches of the Rugby World Cup 2011 Tournament Disciplinary Programme and the RWC/IRB Code of Conduct relating to comments made about Owens via the public social media network Twitter.
Having considered all the evidence the Judicial Officer determined that the charges laid by Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) in respect of misconduct by the player for adverse comments against Owens were upheld. All of the charges relating to breaches of the RWC/IRB Code of Conduct arising from such comments were also all upheld.
The Judicial Officer determined that the comments about Owens made by Sapolu impugn his integrity and reputation both as a referee and as a man. The Judicial Officer recognised that the player might have been angry or emotional when making his initial comments via Twitter, however it did not justify his offensive behaviour towards the referee.
Contrary to the player’s submissions, the Judicial Officer determined that there was ‘absolutely no evidence that the referee was biased in the sense that he deliberately favoured one side or the other. To suggest that Nigel Owens is racist against Samoans is also completely inappropriate.’
112 Comments
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16 Oct 2011, 02:32 am
@fantasticbarnsmell(fantasticbarnsmell)-50: man what kind of idiot do you have to be to think that corruption doesn’t exist.
16 Oct 2011, 02:46 am
@svs(svs)-51: what a ridiculous argument… what makes you think that i don’t think corruption exists? because i don’t believe Bryce Lawrence’s performance last weekend was a part of an elaborate IRB conspiracy? all i’ve seen are poor refereeing performances, what would have happened if the Boks gained a few metres and Morné had knocked over a long rang drop goal in the dying moments of the game? would their entire nefarious plot unravel?
16 Oct 2011, 02:56 am
@XV(XV)-32: Yeah right … that’s nwhy the next one is in Japan.
16 Oct 2011, 03:00 am
your cute when you’re naive. Incompetence is the usual defense to corruption, mups.
An aussie friend and I had this conversation in perhaps June. he said – who will beat the AB’s in RWC 2011? I said – well there’s this little team from the tip of Africa, who should meet them in the Semis (this was before Ireland beat Wallabies, of course)… He says to me, and I quote “Dude, your team usually has to win by more because they are disliked, now factor in the quality of the AB’s, home ground advatage, NZ desire to finally win RWC – the boks have no chance! And, furthermore, if they get a Aussie ref, then its truly over.” His words not mine. Of course it played out slightly different.
16 Oct 2011, 03:04 am
On a different point – anyone see Ferguson (Liverp vs. ManU) in yesterday’s game – he left his best players (Rooney, Nani, Hernandes) on the bench till the 70 minute and brought them all on for impact, in the last 20 minutes. Sheesh that PDV was an idiot, ne
16 Oct 2011, 03:11 am
The whinge continues. Day 8.
7th/8th place playoff.
16 Oct 2011, 03:17 am
@svs(svs)-54: suck it up… your team had ample opportunity to score, why didnt they kick a drop goal? like the ABs in 07, simply werent good enough, end of…
16 Oct 2011, 03:24 am
oh my
Britain’s Daily Mail noted that a Facebook page emphasising the referee’s dual nationality was set up and within minutes of the semifinal ending, the page was inundated with criticism of Rolland. One post said: ’16 Frenchmen on the pitch including you, who should have been a neutral. You robbed the Welsh.’
Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones was also moved to join the debate after watching the game in horror with 60,000 fans on giant TV screens at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
“It was the wrong decision and it wrecked the game. I thought Sam was unlucky. It was a clumsy tackle and a yellow card, not a red card,” Jones said.
“The game was destroyed from that point on. It’s not easy being a referee but I thought Rolland got it wrong.”
BBC news anchorman Huw Edwards believed Rolland was “incompetent”.
“I am that rare Welshman, the type who can’t sing. Not until yesterday, that is. When the final whistle sounded at Eden Park, I produced a booming baritone voice never heard before. Even in defeat – thanks purely to one of the most incompetent displays of refereeing in the history of rugby – our performance had been magnificent,” Edwards wrote.
Writing in The Independent James Lawton brought Biblical proportions to the decision: “We had the red card that changed and, yes, ruined the balance and competitive integrity of this World Cup – we had another example of what happens when a referee plays too carelessly the role of God.”
James Corrigan, also in The Independent, brought a personal note to the controversy: “With all the abuse heading in his direction, I wouldn’t be Alain Rolland for all the croissants in Ireland. However unfair, however unjust, the taunts concerning his French ancestry will carry on throughout my lifetime and, undoubtedly, that of my four-year-old son as well.
“We in Wales are experts at turning the negative into the positive and toasting the brave vanquished. This has to be more than that. A building block, a stepping stone. And excuse us while we use Rolland’s head as leverage. Bitter? You bet. In fact, that doesn’t even begin to approximate to the scale of our gripe. Maybe ‘dwyn’ does. Robbed, as we say in Wales.”
seems suddenly every one is in uproar over refereeing, having FINALLY found their voices when they were so obviously missing in 2007… shame then that so many who chastised the ABs as sore losers and mocked the internal report are now so high and mighty about it all..
wonderful to see… some justification for kiwi fans no doubt..
16 Oct 2011, 03:32 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-58: @poppa69(poppa69)-58: You must be very naive thinking someone may be sympathetic to the four year old events. Not a chance mate, forget it.
16 Oct 2011, 03:42 am
@Nils(Nils)-59: oh no, wasnt being naive, just somewhat smug that the wheel has turned 180 degrees and now some nations will cop 4 years of being told to “get over it, move on, werent good enough, should have taken a drop goal….etc”
just hoping I wont be saying exactly the same after tonights game
16 Oct 2011, 03:48 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-60: Wheel has turned and karma in full force just do not expect any acknowledgment here. That’s it. They’ll whinge about Lawrence till second coming and never ever say Barnes did the same. So rather forget it.
16 Oct 2011, 03:53 am
@Nils(Nils)-61: a gentle reminder now and then is good for the soul… cant let our Saffa brothers off that lightly, Im sure theyd be reminding us if it was our team, and I can envision a barrage of choker calls if the ABs lose tonight…
16 Oct 2011, 03:55 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-62: Sure, expect no mercy. But if they succeed we’ll damn sure make ourselves heard.
16 Oct 2011, 04:05 am
@Nils(Nils)-63: nope. I’ll only really make a noise IF the ABs take the whole thing, hence have only been gently ribbing those who have been somewhat ummmmm despondant shall we say..
16 Oct 2011, 04:19 am
@svs(svs)-54:
well there we have it. A member of the public in Ozzie has pointed out that this is corrupt.
If thats all you have then its pathetic.
16 Oct 2011, 04:24 am
@mcclanbwkrau(mcclanbwkrau)-48:
So wrong.
The Ozzies are the better team and have proven this over the last couple of years.
They are better than the Boks.
I was told over the last 4 years that if you lose in a RWC then you were not good enough.
You cant lose to a team consistently over the last couple of years and claim to be better than them.
16 Oct 2011, 04:27 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-66: I think Aussie have won something like 6 out of the last 7 games versus the Boks, so yeah, it must have been fixed that match..
gotta love it, sort of downgrades food poisoning to second spot… why even the most venerable professor Noakes took the conspiracy bait..
long may it prosper..
16 Oct 2011, 04:32 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-62:
Well if we lose tonight then be prepared for the rest to come out of the woodwork and give us heaps.
It would be just like a South African victory, which proves the jealousy they have of the ABs.
Look at Keo posts, their can be threads about the Ozzies, french, Engand but what threads get the most hits, Kiwi ones. Dont you find that strange?
16 Oct 2011, 04:43 am
Hurri
already prepared for that onslaught.
not strange at all really. people tend to hate that which is better than them.
16 Oct 2011, 04:50 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-68: @poppa69(poppa69)-69: you girls need tissues?
when we lost all sort of ‘black’ nics suddenly appeared here eg black magic, black power even a nzmaori made a come back just to put the boot in & you ladies are acting like it’s a uniquely saffa thing…
gotta love the inherent duplicity
16 Oct 2011, 04:54 am
Trans. not at all.
when you guys play Eng next, will that be an unofficial 7th/8th place playoff? you know, like we heard the bledisloe was for four years.
surely what’s good for the Saffa is good for the kiwi fan too??
16 Oct 2011, 05:12 am
A4Y, yarpies.
16 Oct 2011, 05:17 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-71: yeah that’s what it will be epic
16 Oct 2011, 05:19 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-72: when was the 1st ’4 years’ tickles?
16 Oct 2011, 05:28 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-71: No England and Argentina will be competing for 5th and 6th place, just so Tindall can have another stag do down in Buenus Aireis!
16 Oct 2011, 05:37 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-75:
16 Oct 2011, 05:39 am
I think we should all accept that when one’s team loses when the stakes are so high, each country will come up with fantastical notions to create the conspiracy and give it colour. The boks lost, they played stupid rugby. Warburton should never as a player and certainly as a captain tip tackled an opponent at a semifinal clash. AB fans had to swallow the molestation of Wayne barnes in 2007, we cried, whinged, and screamed bloody murder but to no avail, we realized that you have to play the circumstance in a WC.
16 Oct 2011, 06:16 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-71: @mpundulu(mpundulu)-77: I watched Wales pick and go and throw everything at France yesterday. And guess what? Not a single penalty then either. Or there was a dubious one for coming in from the side of a solitary man lying on the ground, holding on for dear life with another Freench player right over the top of him.
Left me wondering where l saw that before…
16 Oct 2011, 06:33 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-58:
Hahahaha, you did not need any help in 2007, the roar was defening with just 4 mil dude!
16 Oct 2011, 06:46 am
Arrogance comes in many forms.
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
The fellah is in dire need of a slap aginst the pip and a crash course in maturity.
He obviously could not man up so he’s running….poor doodums.
16 Oct 2011, 06:48 am
Goodbye to bad rubbish.
Think he can actually make demands?! He’s a nobody.
Enjoy the dole. Nobody going to employ such a farking idiot.
16 Oct 2011, 06:52 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-71:
If South Africa winning in 2007 was a hollow victory because they didn’t have to face New Zealand, then surely this one will be a VERY hollow victory for New Zealand, who were able to avoid both Wales & South Africa due to poor refereeing decisions.
16 Oct 2011, 07:01 am
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-82:
I think you have missed the point here.
This RWC has alrady been written of as corrupt and match fixing by alot on here.
AT least when we lost in 2007, we blamed ourselves and Barnes. What has happened here is South African fans are blaming Bryce, NZ, IRB and Paddy and then say SA was the best team in the tournament in the same breathe.
16 Oct 2011, 07:05 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-83: Baaawhaaa!!! Where did you blame yourselves? I remember a 400 page dossier blaiming Wayne Barnes, among other trivial side issues. That was funny!
16 Oct 2011, 07:06 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-83:
I wouldn’t go that far… but the tournament has been ruined by incompetent referees.
Nothing worse for the game then driving fans away by denying their teams a fair go through poor refereeing. (Samoa vs SA game does not fall into that category. If anything they were lenient to the Samoans who should’ve seen yellows).
I’ll admit that in 2007 I could care less about NZ losing due to poor refereeing (which it was. Yes NZ weren’t at their best but still good enough to win if the right calls had been made). But now I know the feeling.
I’m happy to put NZ as the best team despite the World Cup, because it seems winning a World Cup means sweet f-all, as one poor decision by a referee can end it.
16 Oct 2011, 07:08 am
@svs(svs)-55: How interesting SVS that you should refer to the Premier League. Not sure if you saw the Everton-Liverpool derby two weeks ago but there the referee issued an extremely dubious red card against an Everton player and ruined the spectacle. However the red card was subsequently cancelled on appeal a few days later and the player’s automatic three-game suspension rescinded. I know yesterday’s decision by Rolland was in a different sport, the rules are different etc. but there seems a clear parallel here involving two referees too quick to flash the red card. Had Rolland first consulted with his touch judges, both experienced Test referees, I think he would have given Warburton a yellow card and left any further punishment to the citing commissioner. Instead we have Rolland pilloried around the world, much as Martin Atkinson was at Goodison Park after his appalling decision in the Everton derby. And no, I’m not a Toffees fan. Come on you Spurs.
16 Oct 2011, 07:33 am
I hope the IRB learnt some leason about NZ hosting a kak world cup :
This is want went wrong :
1. Empty stadiums (Semi & opening games wasn’t a sell out)
2. Possible match fixing to let NZ win this RWC (in all the newspapers)
3. Bryce & bleskop Paddy
4. TV Cameraman being murdered (WTF!!!!)
5. Some tourists dissapeared – Fjijian/Samoan/Maori cannibals suspected!
6. Everyone complaining how bad the weather, food & entertainment is!
Yip, last time that the RWC will be hosted in NZ!
16 Oct 2011, 07:40 am
All you NZ supporters must enjoy rubbing our loss in our faces as we enjoyed doing it to you 4 years ago.
No problem, you win some you lose some.
Regarding Sapolu………
Cheers Bru, no use trying to fight the IRB.
16 Oct 2011, 07:58 am
Just watched an NZ travelogue on CNN.
No Lower Hutt!!!!!!
16 Oct 2011, 07:58 am
Sapolu — biggest ever stiff middle finger to the nobs of the IRB. Legend! Mag and movie deals for sure!
16 Oct 2011, 08:00 am
Is richie playing through pain today?
16 Oct 2011, 08:02 am
I reckon we cease fire now
We on even keel
16 Oct 2011, 08:32 am
@Mills_is_kak(p0ppa69)-87: Every venue was as near as dammit a total sell-out. Not a skerrick of match-fixing (seeing that any such activity is a private arrangement with crooked players in teams anyway and not IRB or NZRU). Bryce called it like he saw it — can’t ask for more than that. Weather is great — after all, it’s late winter/early temperate spring and it’s the rainy season — ideal for rugby! Best lamb and seafood and flat white coffee on earth — and NO “food poisoning”! Mike Miller, IRB boss, says its the “best RWC ever” — eclipsing the 1995 SA show.
16 Oct 2011, 08:42 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-93: Every world cup is said to be the best ever. This world cup should have gone to Japan. 95 was comfortably the best world cup ever.
16 Oct 2011, 09:24 am
Bryce Lawrence is said to be coming to South Africa to head up a “The Rules of Rugby” conference. Few people on this site should attend
16 Oct 2011, 09:25 am
This fellow’s a qualified lawyer? Where did he get his degree, Cuba?
Surely he should know that making allegations like this opens himself up to a defamation suit?
At least if Owens sues, our Samoan centre will have free legal representation – a fool for a client.
16 Oct 2011, 09:29 am
@Richie_7(Richie_7)-95:
Bryce Lawrence had a shocking game. The boks still should’ve won. There is no international conspiracy.
Pound for pound the All Blacks are the best sports team in the world. They should win the RWC and deserve to.
All the whining is emotional venting. We’re all guilty of it.
The IRB needs to look at the whole red car system – it ruins games as a spectacle.
The end.
16 Oct 2011, 09:35 am
@Hooker22(Hooker22)-97: Agreed. Was looking forward to the Boks giving the Aussies a snotklap and the Welsh sending the French packing – was not to be. This morning’s game would have been far more interesting if SA were playing the AB’s
16 Oct 2011, 09:35 am
No one cares. F-uck off back to Auckland.
16 Oct 2011, 11:59 am
@out wide(out wide)-53: if you follow the thread correctly you will see that I used the word ‘IF’………..
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