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A charge that former England women’s boss Mark Sampson used racist language during a club meeting at Stevenage has been found not proven. 

Sampson was charged with misconduct in November over the incident, which was alleged to have occurred during a discussion over player recruitment.

It was alleged that while talking about signing a new player on September 2, 2019, Sampson said: ‘…a black Nigerian centre back, you can’t rely on them.’

But a hearing held earlier this month found the charge not proved and dismissed it, the FA said in an announcement on its official website.

The findings of the hearing also found that Sampson was branded as a ‘snake and spineless c***’ by former Stevenage boss Dino Maamria.

The 48-year-old was sacked on September 8 following a poor start to the season and Sampson, who was working as his assistant manager, was promoted to caretaker boss in his place.

Maamria admitted to being ‘annoyed and disappointed’ with Sampson as he expected all of his staff would leave the club with him.

After Sampson decided to stay on, he sent a WhatsApp message to him using the derogatory terms.

Maamria was in the meeting where Sampson was alleged to have used racially discriminatory language towards a Nigerian player. 

He told the FA that he responded to the alleged comment by saying: ‘no wonder Eni Aluko made a complaint, she must have been right about you’. 

Ali Uzunhasanoglu, another member of Maamria’s staff, also gave evidence about the alleged comment made by Sampson.  

Maamria was making reference to the former England women’s striker, who accused Sampson of making a racist remark about her Nigerian family not bringing Ebola to a game at Wembley.

Another allegation came from Aluko’s England team-mate Drew Spence, who complained about Sampson asking if she had been arrested before and then suggesting jokingly she had been arrested four times.

Sampson was cleared following the two investigations by the FA, but the governing body were forced to apologise in October 2017 when barrister Katherine Newton ruled following a third investigation that, Sampson was not racist, but on ‘the balance of probabilities’ had made comments that ‘were discriminatory on the grounds of race.’ Sampson also apologised.

Sampson had been sacked as England’s women’s manager a month earlier by the FA after they found ‘clear evidence of inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour’ due to his relationship with a female player, understood to be over 18, during his time as Bristol Academy boss, who he managed between 2009 and 2013.

However, Sampson eventually brought an unfair dismissal claim and received a ‘significant’ settlement in 2019.

It also later emerged that Sampson received a three-game ban by UEFA after verbally abusing two female officials and leaving one fearing she was about to be hit with a metal pole during England’s Euro 2017 semi-final loss against Holland.

UEFA concluded the ‘language Sampson used and his attitude grossly violated the basic rules of decent conduct’ and accused him of displaying an ‘aggressive and insulting attitude.’

An FA statement on Monday said: ‘A charge against Mark Sampson for a breach of FA Rule E3 has been found not proven by an independent Regulatory Commission.

‘It was alleged that a comment made by the Stevenage FC first team coach breached FA Rule E3(1) as it was improper and/or abusive and/or insulting.

‘It was further alleged that the comment also constituted an ‘aggravated breach’, which is defined in FA Rule E3(2), as it referenced race and/or colour and/or nationality.

‘Mark Sampson denied the charge and requested a personal hearing that took place at Wembley Stadium on 9 and 10 January 2020.’

A statement from Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace read: ‘The ‘not proven’ outcome was obvious to us after a very thorough investigation of the facts four months ago and I am pleased that the panel’s 17 pages of findings issued today concur with our own internal investigation conducted in September.

‘I am delighted that Mark is now able to concentrate fully on his future and not be troubled by allegations made by former manager Dino Maamria and former coach Ali Uzunhasanoglu after they had been dismissed.

‘The club have stood shoulder to shoulder with Mark because the evidence presented by those independents present at the time conflicted with the allegation.

‘Our club will never tolerate racism and we implement the EFL Equality Code of Practice to manage the club and safeguard the nine key protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, but that doesn’t mean we will stand idly by if we feel allegations are being used for a purpose.’

 

Updated

May 03, 2018 07:27:36

The AFL world has reacted with shock to former AFL champion and premiership-winning coach Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson being charged with drug trafficking and possession.

The 54-year-old was arrested and charged on Tuesday almost five months after police executed a warrant at his Port Melbourne home.

The Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard that a range of drugs, including 134.6 grams of ecstasy, 33.1 grams of methyl amphetamine, an LSD tab, 5.6 grams of ephedrine and multiple Xanax tablets were found in a locked bedroom and loft study area inside the house.

Former Essendon champion Tim Watson, who played with Thompson at the Bombers and whose son Jobe was coached by Thompson at Essendon, said he was “in a state of disbelief” about the news.

“I can’t comprehend that the person that I played football with … could find himself in a situation that he’s found himself in now,” Watson said on SEN radio.

Watson said he had not spoken to Thompson much in recent years, but contacted him about a month ago to suggest they catch up for a coffee.

“There’s been a lot of us that have been concerned about him and I thought ‘OK, well it’s time to reach out and hopefully catch up’.

“I didn’t ever hear back from him but that is consistent with a lot of other people too.”

Watson said Thompson felt aggrieved about the Essendon supplements saga.

In 2013, the AFL charged Thompson along with Essendon senior coach James Hird, football manager Danny Corcoran and club doctor Bruce Reid with bringing the game into disrepute.

Thompson was fined $30,000 for his role in the affair.

“He was never able to put that behind him,” Watson said on Wednesday.

Jimmy Bartel, who played in the Geelong teams that Thompson coached to win the 2007 and 2009 AFL premierships, said he was saddened and upset by the news of the charges.

“He coached me for the first nine years of my career and completely shaped the way I played football,” Bartel said on Macquarie Sports Radio.

“The success I shared with him and the other coaches and players at Geelong is a massive part of my life.

“I’m sad and upset, and I feel sorry for his family because they’re the ones who have to go through it more than us,” he said.

Cameron Mooney, who was also a member of the premiership-winning Geelong sides, said Thompson had been a father figure to players.

“A lot of us got to the footy club at 18 or 20 years of age, and he was our father for ten years, helped us grow to men, taught us to play football, and we got the ultimate two premierships underneath him,” Mooney told Macquarie Sports Radio.

Thompson apologises to supporters

Outside his Port Melbourne home, Thompson was asked by reporters if he had a message to his supporters.

“Just tell them that I’m sorry that they’ve put up with this, put up with me,” he said.

“But hopefully we’ll get through it.”

He then rode away from the media pack on a bike.

Prosecution argues Thompson ‘a flight risk’

Thompson has been charged with two counts of trafficking ecstasy and trafficking methyl amphetamine.

He has also been charged with possessing amphetamine, ecstasy and LSD, and possessing prescription drugs without a prescription.

Three other people were charged in January following the police search of Thompson’s property.

Thompson appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday and was granted bail on a $20,000 surety.

He was asked to surrender his passport and cannot leave Australia.

He must also report to South Melbourne police station three times a week, and not consume any drugs of dependence or communicate with his alleged co-accused.

During the bail application hearing, police prosecutors argued against granting him bail.

Detective Senior Constable Naomi Bourke told the court Thompson was a flight risk because he had access to large amounts of money and a yacht.

Thompson’s lawyer, David Hallowes SC, argued that bail should be granted, emphasising Thompson’s family ties to Melbourne.

Mr Hallowes said the charges would be vigorously denied.

As he left the court, Thompson would not comment on the charges.

“It was a big day and hopefully we get our chance to fight them,” he said.

Before winning two flags as a coach at Geelong, Thompson played 202 games for the Bombers, captaining the club and winning three premierships.

He returned to Essendon as an assistant under James Hird during the club’s disastrous supplements program, which saw 34 players suspended by anti-doping authorities.

Thompson took over the senior role for one season in 2014 while Hird served an AFL-imposed ban for bringing the game into disrepute, and left the club at the end of that year.

He will return to court on May 25.

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First posted

May 02, 2018 13:33:07

It’s been three days since an ESPN report painted a picture of Michigan State University as a school unable or unwilling to punish sexual abusers or rapists through any kind of accountable system, particularly when the accused were part of the football and men’s basketball teams. The looming publication of that report sparked the resignation of athletic director Mark Hollis, but it’s already clear that any calls for football coach Mark Dantonio and basketball coach Tom Izzo to resign aren’t going to get any traction in East Lansing.

Both coaches spoke to the media over the weekend (Izzo twice), and both took defensive stances, saying that they had cooperated with law enforcement in the proper ways whenever there was a sexual assault investigation involving their players and offering vague (if any) words of support for victims of sexual abuse or assault.

Izzo first spoke on Friday, after a home win for his team over Wisconsin. In the ESPN report, his program is said to have allowed former player and then-undergrad assistant coach Travis Walton to remain a part of the team after punching a woman at a bar in 2010. (Walton pleaded not guilty to the assault charge and eventually pleaded down to a littering infraction, ESPN says. He went to play Europe after the 2009-2010 season.) Walton, along with two unidentified basketball players, was also named in a rape report later that year. Additionally, in 2010, another MSU student accused basketball players Adreian Payne and Keith Appling of raping her in their dorm room, but no charges were ever filed.

“I’m not going to answer any questions,” Izzo said on Friday. “I’m going to stick to worrying about the survivors. I tried saying what I could say last week, and I’m going to stick with the survivors and do my part in helping them heal.” Izzo did, however, confirm that he was “not going anywhere,” and wouldn’t resign.

Following a win against Maryland on Sunday, Izzo had another chance to more clearly address the contents of the report, but continued to be evasive. Izzo was asked multiple questions about Travis Walton by ESPN’s Tisha Thompson, including why Walton was allowed to continue with the team while his assault charges were pending.

“As I said before, we’ll cooperate with any investigation and always have. We’ve done it before and we’ll do it moving forward, and that’s all I’m going to say on it, that we did cooperate with everything,” Izzo said.

He was then asked why Walton left the program in 2010.

“To be honest with you, I don’t remember why he left,” Izzo said.

When asked if he had any regrets about the way he handled sexual assault within his program, Izzo again simply reiterated, “I’ve cooperated with every investigation—every one. And I’ll continue to cooperate with every investigation—every one.”

Mark Dantonio also gave a press conference on Friday night in which he said the reports of his mishandling of sexual assault allegations were “completely false.” ESPN reported that at least 16 Michigan State football players had been accused of sexual assault or violence against women since Dantonio took over as head coach, and their report mentioned that in one case, Dantonio allegedly dealt with a sexual assault accusation by having the player talk to his mother.

“Every incident reported in that article was documented either by police or the Michigan State Title IX office. I’ve always worked with the proper authorities when dealing with sexual assault,” Dantonio said on Friday.

His words, most confusingly, seem to conflict with something he said to media in June 2017 after several players were dismissed when they were charged with sexual assault or misconduct. At the time, Dantonio implied that his team had never had any problems with sexual assault.

“This is new ground for us,” he said in June. “We’ve been here 11 years—it has not happened previously.”

Both Izzo’s and Dantonio’s words sound like they were heavily influenced by conversations with lawyers. Because of that, at a time when the University is trying to change a culture that definitely enabled Larry Nassar to abuse over 100 women, and reportedly enabled over a dozen athletes to commit rape or otherwise assault women, two of the school’s most visible leaders come off as flat and uninspiring at best and in denial at worst. A basketball coach and a football coach are obviously not the two people we need to look to in a critical situation like this, but what Dantonio and Izzo say about MSU’s rape problem could go a long way toward influencing those who put school pride over justice. It’s unfortunate that all they’re doing is covering their asses.

Updated

January 10, 2018 17:02:32

Two men charged with drug trafficking, and who have links to outlaw motorcycle gangs, had been staying at a Port Melbourne home owned by former AFL coach Mark Thompson, the ABC understands.

A 31-year-old man from Lara, near Geelong, and a 28-year-old Port Melbourne man were remanded in custody after being charged with drug trafficking on Tuesday.

The ABC understands those men were Karl Holt, who has connections to the Bandidos bikie gang, and Thomas Windsor, who is affiliated with the Rebels bikie gang.

Neither of them are patched members.

It is understood the pair had been staying at a Port Melbourne property owned by Thompson, which was raided by police last Friday.

Thompson was arrested and went to a police station to be questioned by appointment on Tuesday, but was released without charge.

A 22-year-old Mill Park woman was also arrested and charged with drug trafficking in connection with the investigation.

All three will return to court at a later date.

Thompson, a two-time Essendon premiership player and former captain, was an assistant at the Bombers under James Hird at the time of the disastrous supplements program.

The AFL fined him $30,000 for his part in the saga, but Thompson took over the senior role at Essendon for one season in 2014 while Hird served a 12-month suspension.

From 2000-2010 Thompson was the senior coach at Geelong, winning two premierships in a dominant era for the Cats.

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First posted

January 10, 2018 11:13:09

Now caught up in a drug trafficking investigation in which three other people have been charged, it seems the once legend of the game had no idea how far his downfall would go.

The decorated player and coach’s career boasted three premierships during his playing days at Essendon and two flags for Geelong under his coaching.

Known as “Bomber”, he played 202 matches for Essendon and coached Geelong for 260 before becoming his home club’s assistant coach under James Hird and led the team as coach in 2014 when Hird was dismissed.

It was during his time as assistant coach, when the club’s supplements saga came to light in 2013, that Thompson’s stellar career took a turn.

A probe into the club’s supplements program by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) developed into a long-running scandal, where after four years of investigation and legal proceedings, 34 players at the club were found guilty of using banned peptides.

The doping scandal saw those players suspended, the club fined $2 million and sidelined from the 2013 series.

Sports scientist Stephen Dank was found guilty of 10 code breaches and banned from the sport for life. Disgraced coach Hird was suspended, as was club manager Danny Corcoran.

At the time, as the club’s assistant coach, Thompson was fined $30,000 for his involvement in the program, but the personal consequences of the doping scandal went much further than the financial penalty.

Following the findings, Thompson suggested the saga had sapped his passion for the game, destroyed his marriage and would “end up killing” him.

“I know more of what happened than probably most people. I’ve read that much about what was going on — it’s incredible,” he said at a breakfast hosted by the Law Institute of Victoria in April last year.

“And it just sits in my guts and churns and it still does and it’s going to probably end up killing me because I can’t let it go.”

Thompson declared himself a victim of the scandal, saying he had become “bitter and twisted” and he believed he had the right to be. He indicated he didn’t have a chance to defend himself and hinted the truth of the saga had not been completely revealed.

“I don’t like the game any more. I don’t want to work in the AFL system, I don’t want to associate with people … I’ve lost my love for it, which is a shame because I’m a bloody good coach,” he said.

“They’ve got no right to do this to people. You don’t not give people a chance to defend themselves and that’s what they’ve done.”

Thompson added he believed he had “lost my wife because of it”.

His former wife Jana Clack told the Herald Sun she had no idea what Thompson had been up to for the past two and a half years.

“I don’t know who he has been hanging around with. The silliest thing he ever did was leaving Geelong. It’s all gone downhill from there,” she said.

Former Geelong president Frank Costa said a series of incidents, including his marriage breakdown, affected Thompson’s “mental state”.

“Then he left and went to Essendon and the worst thing that could have happened did happen when this Essendon drug saga blew up,” Costa told the Herald Sun.

It was Friday last week when the once-celebrated coach appeared to have plummeted to an even lower point, becoming caught up in a drug trafficking scandal when the 54-year-old’s Port Melbourne property was raided by police.

Footage shows police storming the Rouse St converted warehouse, shouting “Police, don’t move” as they burst in. Police have since confirmed the 54-year-old Port Melbourne man was arrested on Tuesday before being released without charge pending further police inquiries.

A heavily tattooed man with alleged bikie links, now identified as Thomas Windsor, 28, was believed to have been staying at the property Thompson owned.

Windsor, who is alleged to have links to the Rebels bikie gang, was charged with drug trafficking along with two others following the raid and another search in Geelong.

A 31-year-old Lara man and a 22-year-old Mill Park woman were also charged and remanded in custody, police said.

The Lara man, identified by the Herald Sunas Karl “Bang Bang” Holt, is also believed to have bikie links in the Geelong area, with the paper reporting an affiliation with the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang.

According to the Herald Sun, the charges are understood to involved trafficking a commercial quantity of amphetamines and trafficking methamphetamine, ecstasy and MDMA.

Police said the arrests were part of an ongoing investigation into drug trafficking, and have not specified Thompson’s alleged connection.

Originally published as Mark Thompson’s spectacular fall

Now caught up in a drug trafficking investigation in which three other people have been charged, it seems the once legend of the game had no idea how far his downfall would go.

The decorated player and coach’s career boasted three premierships during his playing days at Essendon and two flags for Geelong under his coaching.

Known as “Bomber”, he played 202 matches for Essendon and coached Geelong for 260 before becoming his home club’s assistant coach under James Hird and led the team as coach in 2014 when Hird was dismissed.

It was during his time as assistant coach, when the club’s supplements saga came to light in 2013, that Thompson’s stellar career took a turn.

A probe into the club’s supplements program by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) developed into a long-running scandal, where after four years of investigation and legal proceedings, 34 players at the club were found guilty of using banned peptides.

The doping scandal saw those players suspended, the club fined $2 million and sidelined from the 2013 series.

Sports scientist Stephen Dank was found guilty of 10 code breaches and banned from the sport for life. Disgraced coach Hird was suspended, as was club manager Danny Corcoran.

At the time, as the club’s assistant coach, Thompson was fined $30,000 for his involvement in the program, but the personal consequences of the doping scandal went much further than the financial penalty.

Following the findings, Thompson suggested the saga had sapped his passion for the game, destroyed his marriage and would “end up killing” him.

“I know more of what happened than probably most people. I’ve read that much about what was going on — it’s incredible,” he said at a breakfast hosted by the Law Institute of Victoria in April last year.

“And it just sits in my guts and churns and it still does and it’s going to probably end up killing me because I can’t let it go.”

Thompson declared himself a victim of the scandal, saying he had become “bitter and twisted” and he believed he had the right to be. He indicated he didn’t have a chance to defend himself and hinted the truth of the saga had not been completely revealed.

“I don’t like the game any more. I don’t want to work in the AFL system, I don’t want to associate with people … I’ve lost my love for it, which is a shame because I’m a bloody good coach,” he said.

“They’ve got no right to do this to people. You don’t not give people a chance to defend themselves and that’s what they’ve done.”

Thompson added he believed he had “lost my wife because of it”.

His former wife Jana Clack told the Herald Sun she had no idea what Thompson had been up to for the past two and a half years.

“I don’t know who he has been hanging around with. The silliest thing he ever did was leaving Geelong. It’s all gone downhill from there,” she said.

Former Geelong president Frank Costa said a series of incidents, including his marriage breakdown, affected Thompson’s “mental state”.

“Then he left and went to Essendon and the worst thing that could have happened did happen when this Essendon drug saga blew up,” Costa told the Herald Sun.

It was Friday last week when the once-celebrated coach appeared to have plummeted to an even lower point, becoming caught up in a drug trafficking scandal when the 54-year-old’s Port Melbourne property was raided by police.

Footage shows police storming the Rouse St converted warehouse, shouting “Police, don’t move” as they burst in. Police have since confirmed the 54-year-old Port Melbourne man was arrested on Tuesday before being released without charge pending further police inquiries.

A heavily tattooed man with alleged bikie links, now identified as Thomas Windsor, 28, was believed to have been staying at the property Thompson owned.

Windsor, who is alleged to have links to the Rebels bikie gang, was charged with drug trafficking along with two others following the raid and another search in Geelong.

A 31-year-old Lara man and a 22-year-old Mill Park woman were also charged and remanded in custody, police said.

The Lara man, identified by the Herald Sunas Karl “Bang Bang” Holt, is also believed to have bikie links in the Geelong area, with the paper reporting an affiliation with the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang.

According to the Herald Sun, the charges are understood to involved trafficking a commercial quantity of amphetamines and trafficking methamphetamine, ecstasy and MDMA.

Police said the arrests were part of an ongoing investigation into drug trafficking, and have not specified Thompson’s alleged connection.

AFL legend Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson has been arrested as part of an investigation into drug trafficking, but the premiership coach has been released without charge.

In a short statement issued on Tuesday afternoon, police confirmed a 54-year-old from Port Melbourne was arrested and released earlier that day, “pending further enquiries”.

Thompson’s Port Melbourne renovated warehouse was raided at 9.30am last Friday.

It can be revealed that two men allegedly involved in the drug trafficking operation that resulted in a police raid at Thompson’s home have links to outlaw bikie gangs.

Karl “Bang Bang” Holt and Thomas Windsor were charged with trafficking a drug of dependence, after raids in Geelong and Port Melbourne.

Mr Holt – who purports to drive a black Mercedes-Benz sedan with the numberplate NOBA1L – and Mr Windsor both have links to bikies in the Geelong region, sources say.

The pair are heavily tattooed, with Mr Holt having a picture of a gun and the words “bang bang”, his nickname, tattooed on his hands.

Mr Holt, 31, from Lara, and Mr Windsor, 28, from Port Melbourne, were both remanded in custody.

A 22-year-old woman from Mill Park was also charged with trafficking a drug of dependence.

It is understood the charges related to various substances. They have been remanded to face Geelong Magistrates’ Court at later dates.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman confirmed three people had been charged, and had been remanded in custody.

“No further arrests have been made and, as the investigation is ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment any further at this stage,” she said.

It is not clear how Thompson is allegedly connected to the investigation.

The police involved in the search at Thompson’s home were from the Southern Metro and Geelong divisional response units, who are broadly tasked to investigate property crime and illegal drug activity.

When contacted on Saturday, Mr Thompson denied his home had been raided, but footage of police executing a warrant on the Rouse Street property, taken from a neighbouring home, emerged on Monday.

Their cries of “Police! Don’t move. Police! Don’t move” are clearly heard in the footage.

Thompson, 54, led the Cats to premierships in 2007 and 2009 but quit the club in 2010 to join Essendon, the club he had once captained, as a senior assistant to James Hird.

He became embroiled in the supplements saga which led to 34 past and present Essendon players being suspended for the 2016 season.

Thompson was fined $30,000 for his role in the scandal, one which had seen him replace a suspended Hird as coach in 2014 but later lose any interest in the sport.

He revealed last year the saga had made him “bitter and twisted” and contributed to the breakdown of his marriage. 

World Rugby will be overdosing on fury. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu has just let the coke out of the bag and there is nothing they can do about it. Our favourite Samoan casually said that some top All Blacks have taken cocaine and World Rugby can’t even slap a ban on him. The secret is out, if he is to be believed.

Fuimaono-Sapolu was responding to a tweet by Welsh rugby writer Paul Williams that said Karmichael Hunt had been caught with “sniff” again and was wasting his career. The former Samoan midfield back wrote: “You’ll find loads of ballers do it. Heaps in Super Rugby including some of your favourite All Blacks.”

Doubtless a few outraged folk in the shires will be appalled that Fuimaono-Sapolu should be smearing All Blacks without showing any evidence, but in the past 12 months police have caught Kevin Proctor, Jesse Bromwich, Karmichael Hunt, James O’Connor and Ali Williams all apparently involved in purchases of coke. Former Highlander turned Scotland international John Hardie was suspended last year for alleged coke use. 

Work out the probabilities. This is the police who caught most of these guys, not drug testers. Coke is out of the system in two to four days, so only follicle testing would pick it up, which World Rugby won’t do. Logically loads of players are taking the odd hit. The players’ union helps some with counselling and treatment but will never release the names.

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World Rugby has no interest in positive tests for recreational drugs, because its sponsors like a sport that pretends to be squeaky clean. So the authorities prefer to shoot the messenger. They have certainly fired enough bullets at Fuimaono-Sapolu in the past, but happily they can’t stop this lawyer, and activist, from talking.

Fuimaono-Sapolu points out: “One beer has close to the same fat content as a big mac. Cocaine has zero. Dudes want the high without the fat…Beer means you have to do cardio for 3 days to work it off. Why waste your time when there’s a fat free option.”

The Samoan tweeted that we have already seen coke-fuelled test matches and that it does far less harm to society than alcohol. But rugby has a lot of alcohol sponsors and so the authorities want their players to get their high on the sponsors’ product.

Although this is entirely coherent, these views will not go down well with the suits in the Dublin Oval Ball Office. They do not like Fuimaono-Sapolu, but then they do not like free speech. World Rugby bans writing on wristbands. They ban mouthguard messages. They ban comments on referees. Soon they will ban thinking for yourself.

Fuimaono-Sapolu first encountered these attitudes in school in New Zealand. He says he was marked wrong as a kid for answering that Maori discovered New Zealand. The prescribed Western answer was Captain Cook, but even he had a Polynesian navigator to show him the way.

Fuimaono-Sapolu has long spoken out against authority. His is not idle rant. He described referee Nigel Owens as “a biased prick” at the 2011 World Cup after the Welshman officiated the game between South Africa and Samoa.

It was key game that had a bearing on Wales’s future at the tournament. And yet a Welshman was appointed to officiate by a committee that was chaired by another Welshman. Samoa also had a three-day turnaround on their big games compared to the eight enjoyed by their tier one rivals. It was a scandal but it was Fuimaono-Sapolu who got the ban.

He told L’Equipe: “We learned what World Rugby is really about. Match fixing. Money. And oppression.”

I doubt that the appointment of France to host the 2023 World Cup will have greatly changed Fuimaono-Sapolu’s view. Professional rugby is a game run by the colonial powers at the expense of the poorer nations.

New Zealand’s own Greg McGee recently cited Fuimaono-Sapolu as one of his sporting heroes “for having the guts to challenge the Samoan and international rugby patriarchies”.

Good on McGee, but he could have added the New Zealand rugby patriarchy to that list. Fuimaono-Sapolu once said: “If Hitler had an interest in rugby and fronted the money and showed the All Blacks, told them to come tour Nazi Germany, the All Blacks would.”

Many were outraged, but it made me laugh. New Zealand rugby took South Africa’s diamonds when the rest of the world were boycotting a country that slaughtered people during apartheid. So was it really such a stretch?

Fuimaono-Sapolu is protesting against the injustices that are rife in rugby. He is protesting against the eligibility rules that allow Gordon Tietjens to coach in Samoa on a salary greater than the prime minister. He is protesting against rules that allow New Zealand coaches to colonise the world, but forbade Jerry Collins from ever pulling on a Samoan jersey.

It outrages Fuimaono-Sapolu that his countrymen can be poached by New Zealand schools and then stopped for ever playing for their country again. He said: “This ridiculous rule allows the old white men in World Rugby to possess your identity. It is contrary to Article 15(2) of the United Nation’s declaration of Human Rights that says: ‘No one shall be denied the right to change his nationality’.”

Good on him for speaking out against the consistently biased judiciaries that taint the World Cup. One of the judges on these panels even once tried to confiscate Fuimaono-Sapolu’s passport without the slightest legal justification for doing so.

I wrote at the last World Cup of “colonial injustice” and said: “We are fed up with Pacific Islanders, Eastern Europeans and South Americans being handed out ludicrously long sentences by a judiciary that is dominated by countries that still seem to think they own the world.”

So imagine how Fuimaono-Sapolu feels when he is on the direct receiving end of a system that initially gave Alesana Tuilagi five weeks for running through a Japanese defender with a high knee action, but gave Sean O’Brien and David Pocock a combined total of one week for a punch and for a knee off the ball.

Well this is how he feels: “Surely SURELY any intelligent, fair minded, rugby loving person can see the disgusting treatment of tier 2 teams and players! SURELY!”

The tragedy for Fuimaono-Sapolu is that he has been grievously unsupported by players in New Zealand and Australia who all seem under the corporate yoke. Where is today’s Anton Oliver? Richie McCaw sits on a panel that absurdly makes Beauden Barrett the World Rugby Player of the Year again, not a title that a player is ever likely to win in a Samoan shirt – Beauden, blondish poster boy, good for business.

When did McCaw ever speak out on behalf of anything? No wonder he was a school prefect. But as Fuimaono-Sapolu says: “If Richie McCaw said anything about the GCSB, the whole of New Zealand would be up in arms against it.”

Instead there is just a lone voice coming from the Pacific. It is full of sorrow, it is full of passion and it is full of anger. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu is paddling against the rugby tide with a teaspoon. Maybe a few more of us, and a few more current players, could jump on board and do something to help.

 – Stuff

World Rugby will be overdosing on fury. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu has just let the coke out of the bag and there is nothing they can do about it. Our favourite Samoan casually said that some top All Blacks have taken cocaine and World Rugby can’t even slap a ban on him. The secret is out, if he is to be believed.

Fuimaono-Sapolu was responding to a tweet by Welsh rugby writer Paul Williams that said Karmichael Hunt had been caught with “sniff” again and was wasting his career. The former Samoan midfield back wrote: “You’ll find loads of ballers do it. Heaps in Super Rugby including some of your favourite All Blacks.”

Doubtless a few outraged folk in the shires will be appalled that Fuimaono-Sapolu should be smearing All Blacks without showing any evidence, but in the past 12 months police have caught Kevin Proctor, Jesse Bromwich, Karmichael Hunt, James O’Connor and Ali Williams all apparently involved in purchases of coke. Former Highlander turned Scotland international John Hardie was suspended last year for alleged coke use. 

Work out the probabilities. This is the police who caught most of these guys, not drug testers. Coke is out of the system in two to four days, so only follicle testing would pick it up, which World Rugby won’t do. Logically loads of players are taking the odd hit. The players’ union helps some with counselling and treatment but will never release the names.

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World Rugby has no interest in positive tests for recreational drugs, because its sponsors like a sport that pretends to be squeaky clean. So the authorities prefer to shoot the messenger. They have certainly fired enough bullets at Fuimaono-Sapolu in the past, but happily they can’t stop this lawyer, and activist, from talking.

Fuimaono-Sapolu points out: “One beer has close to the same fat content as a big mac. Cocaine has zero. Dudes want the high without the fat…Beer means you have to do cardio for 3 days to work it off. Why waste your time when there’s a fat free option.”

The Samoan tweeted that we have already seen coke-fuelled test matches and that it does far less harm to society than alcohol. But rugby has a lot of alcohol sponsors and so the authorities want their players to get their high on the sponsors’ product.

Although this is entirely coherent, these views will not go down well with the suits in the Dublin Oval Ball Office. They do not like Fuimaono-Sapolu, but then they do not like free speech. World Rugby bans writing on wristbands. They ban mouthguard messages. They ban comments on referees. Soon they will ban thinking for yourself.

Fuimaono-Sapolu first encountered these attitudes in school in New Zealand. He says he was marked wrong as a kid for answering that Maori discovered New Zealand. The prescribed Western answer was Captain Cook, but even he had a Polynesian navigator to show him the way.

Fuimaono-Sapolu has long spoken out against authority. His is not idle rant. He described referee Nigel Owens as “a biased prick” at the 2011 World Cup after the Welshman officiated the game between South Africa and Samoa.

It was key game that had a bearing on Wales’s future at the tournament. And yet a Welshman was appointed to officiate by a committee that was chaired by another Welshman. Samoa also had a three-day turnaround on their big games compared to the eight enjoyed by their tier one rivals. It was a scandal but it was Fuimaono-Sapolu who got the ban.

He told L’Equipe: “We learned what World Rugby is really about. Match fixing. Money. And oppression.”

I doubt that the appointment of France to host the 2023 World Cup will have greatly changed Fuimaono-Sapolu’s view. Professional rugby is a game run by the colonial powers at the expense of the poorer nations.

New Zealand’s own Greg McGee recently cited Fuimaono-Sapolu as one of his sporting heroes “for having the guts to challenge the Samoan and international rugby patriarchies”.

Good on McGee, but he could have added the New Zealand rugby patriarchy to that list. Fuimaono-Sapolu once said: “If Hitler had an interest in rugby and fronted the money and showed the All Blacks, told them to come tour Nazi Germany, the All Blacks would.”

Many were outraged, but it made me laugh. New Zealand rugby took South Africa’s diamonds when the rest of the world were boycotting a country that slaughtered people during apartheid. So was it really such a stretch?

Fuimaono-Sapolu is protesting against the injustices that are rife in rugby. He is protesting against the eligibility rules that allow Gordon Tietjens to coach in Samoa on a salary greater than the prime minister. He is protesting against rules that allow New Zealand coaches to colonise the world, but forbade Jerry Collins from ever pulling on a Samoan jersey.

It outrages Fuimaono-Sapolu that his countrymen can be poached by New Zealand schools and then stopped for ever playing for their country again. He said: “This ridiculous rule allows the old white men in World Rugby to possess your identity. It is contrary to Article 15(2) of the United Nation’s declaration of Human Rights that says: ‘No one shall be denied the right to change his nationality’.”

Good on him for speaking out against the consistently biased judiciaries that taint the World Cup. One of the judges on these panels even once tried to confiscate Fuimaono-Sapolu’s passport without the slightest legal justification for doing so.

I wrote at the last World Cup of “colonial injustice” and said: “We are fed up with Pacific Islanders, Eastern Europeans and South Americans being handed out ludicrously long sentences by a judiciary that is dominated by countries that still seem to think they own the world.”

So imagine how Fuimaono-Sapolu feels when he is on the direct receiving end of a system that initially gave Alesana Tuilagi five weeks for running through a Japanese defender with a high knee action, but gave Sean O’Brien and David Pocock a combined total of one week for a punch and for a knee off the ball.

Well this is how he feels: “Surely SURELY any intelligent, fair minded, rugby loving person can see the disgusting treatment of tier 2 teams and players! SURELY!”

The tragedy for Fuimaono-Sapolu is that he has been grievously unsupported by players in New Zealand and Australia who all seem under the corporate yoke. Where is today’s Anton Oliver? Richie McCaw sits on a panel that absurdly makes Beauden Barrett the World Rugby Player of the Year again, not a title that a player is ever likely to win in a Samoan shirt – Beauden, blondish poster boy, good for business.

When did McCaw ever speak out on behalf of anything? No wonder he was a school prefect. But as Fuimaono-Sapolu says: “If Richie McCaw said anything about the GCSB, the whole of New Zealand would be up in arms against it.”

Instead there is just a lone voice coming from the Pacific. It is full of sorrow, it is full of passion and it is full of anger. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu is paddling against the rugby tide with a teaspoon. Maybe a few more of us, and a few more current players, could jump on board and do something to help.

 – Stuff