English Rugby in Trouble?

We are now well into week three of ‘Rugbygate’ as stories of our boys and their antics continue to fill the tabloids and beyond.  Yet I find myself in a bit of a dichotomy.   Do I roll my eyes and think ‘they are Rugby boys: are you seriously surprised that they get drunk, are rude to women and do OTT things whilst out partying? That behaviour is as old as the hills.’  Or do I think ‘about time too’?  Perhaps the sport was relying too much on the former perception to see them through.

So when the media decided that now was the time to have their day with them the sport was unprepared.

On reflection you would think the RFU would have had a better plan.  It should have been forewarned by stories from the previous World Cup, plus the on-going scrutiny the media now puts other sports stars under.

The issues and crisis plans, if they are in place, are ineffective and must have been written from within their own rugby world.  A typical mistake.  We can but hope that this is the low point, that they will smarten up their act rapidly now and be able to bring attention back to the fact that the team has made the quarter finals.  They will have time after the World Cup to consider if and how attitudes and communications must change for the future.