RED CARD STANDS
England captain Owen Farrell banned for four matches after World Rugby wins appeal
Owen Farrell will serve a four-match ban for a dangerous tackle after World Rugby won its appeal on Tuesday.
It should never have come to this. But justice was finally served. Owen Farrell, the repeat high and dangerous tackle offender, was banned for four matches on appeal on Tuesday.
The England captain received a six-match ban, reduced to four on mitigation because of “the player’s acceptance of foul play, clear demonstration of remorse and his good character”. It was odd considering this is now his fourth ban for similar offences.
Farrell will miss England’s opening two games of Rugby World Cup 2023 against Argentina and Japan, as well as this weekend’s warm-up against Fiji. He missed last weekend’s 29-10 defeat against Ireland, which served as the first of his four-match suspension.
The hearing panel on Tuesday said the committee that initially overturned the red card, was “manifestly wrong” in its verdict as they did not consider that Farrell had not attempted to wrap his arms in the tackle, and therefore it was always illegal.
No mitigating circumstances could therefore be applied.
Nika Amashukeli, the referee, shows Owen Farrell, the England captain, a red card as he sits in the sin bin during the Summer International match between England and Wales at Twickenham Stadium on 12 August 2023 in London, England. (Photo: David Rogers / Getty Images)
Integrity of the ‘bunker’ at stake
While the sanction is still lenient, considering Farrell’s track record, at least World Rugby was able to see some punishment meted out on appeal.
Farrell was red-carded for a dangerous tackle on Wales flank Taine Basham at Twickenham on 19 August. The Welsh player failed a head-injury assessment and could not continue in the match, which England won 19-17.
Farrell was initially yellow-carded by Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli in the 63rd minute, but the foul play review officer (FPRO), in what is called the “bunker”, upgraded the sanction to a red.
Farrell was subsequently charged with dangerous tackling, which carries a six-week, mid-range sanction for any hit that makes contact with a player’s head. Farrell has previously served three suspensions related to dangerous tackling.
The red card was rescinded at a disciplinary hearing a few days later and lowered to yellow, meaning Farrell was free to play.
But in an unusual step, World Rugby, the game’s governing body, appealed against the decision to rescind the red card, which was made by an all-Australian committee.
Downgrading the red card met with massive disbelief and posed some uncomfortable and precedent-setting consequences for the sport if unchallenged.
England captain Owen Farrell received a red card for a high tackle in England’s match against Wales. He was expected to receive a ban, but the red card was initially reduced to a yellow by an independent panel – a decision World Rugby appealed. (Photo: Gaspafotos / MB Media / Getty Images)
Considering “the bunker” and the FPRO will be used at the upcoming Rugby World Cup in France, it was essential that its integrity was supported through the appeal by World Rugby.
The wording by the disciplinary committee that rescinded the red card severely undermined the entire FPRO process.
“Unlike the Foul Play Review Officer, the Committee had the luxury of time to deliberate and consider, in private, the incident and the proper application of the head contact process,” a statement after Farrell’s initial hearing stated.
“The Committee believes this is in contrast to the Foul Play Review Officer, who was required to make his decision in a matter of minutes without the benefit of all the additional material, including hearing from the player and his legal representative.”
The FPRO is in a separate location, free of influence from the crowd and broadcasters, with eight minutes to assess a yellow card and decide whether it needs to be upgraded to red.
That statement suggests that the FPRO needs to consult legal counsel in-game to decide on an upgrade to a red card. This is ludicrous.
From left: Freddie Steward, Ellis Genge and Owen Farrell of England look on as they sit in the sin bin after receiving yellow cards during the Summer International match between England and Wales at Twickenham Stadium, London, on 12 August 2023. (Photo: David Rogers / Getty Images)
Compelled to act
World Rugby was compelled to act. But overturning a ruling in which “mitigation” was given as the reason for downgrading the red card placed a high legal burden on World Rugby.
They were successful by approaching the matter through a side door.
“The Appeal Committee met on Tuesday 22nd August and unanimously determined that in the original hearing, the Disciplinary Committee should have considered the attempt of the player to wrap his opponent in the tackle,” a statement from England Rugby said.
“This point did not feature in the original decision. The failure to attempt to wrap was judged to be an important element of the FPRO report and had led to an upgrading of the referee’s yellow card to a red card during the match.
“As this element did not feature in the original decision, the Appeal Committee decided it was in the interests of justice to hear the case afresh on that key point alone, which included hearing from the player.
This tackle by England’s Owen Farrell on France’s Yoram Moefana would be deemed too high. (Photo: Gaspafotos / MB Media / Getty Images)
“Following the review by the Appeal Committee of this key element, it was determined that the FPRO was correct in his decision leading to the red card. The Appeal Committee subsequently determined that the tackle was ‘always illegal’.
“When applying the terms of World Rugby’s Head Contact Process, no mitigation can be applied to a tackle that is ‘always illegal’. The Appeal Committee therefore considered that the Disciplinary Committee’s decision to downgrade the red card to a yellow card had been manifestly wrong, which led to the Disciplinary Committee’s decision being overturned, the appeal brought by World Rugby being allowed, and the red card upheld.
“In considering sanction, the Committee applied World Rugby’s mandatory minimum mid-range entry point for foul play resulting in contact with the head (six matches).
“Taking all considerations into account, including the player’s acceptance of foul play, clear demonstration of remorse and his good character, the Committee agreed to a four-match suspension.
“The Appeal Committee accepted submissions on behalf of the player that the Ireland v England match on 19 August 2023, for which the player was voluntarily stood down, would be included as part of the sanction.” DM
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The great “Pilate” like washing of hands by World Rugby which followed the Aussie appeal decision makes hypocrisy the real hero.
You summed it up succinctly in seven words. It should never have come to this. I despair for rugby with the disgraceful way dangerous tackling like Farrell’s, Mallía’s (on Grant Williams) and Steward’s (on Keenan in the Irish game last season) is made out to be ‘a rugby incident’. All three were illegal tackles right from the word go, but when you get commenters saying the attacked players should ‘man up’ you wonder if rugby has a future.
Oh and two important points: firstly, Farrell and Steward are England players whose big names like Beaumont have the audacity to defend the indefensible (but who would be whinging like stuck pigs if the positions were reversed); secondly, Steward is a serial offender, who was lucky not to have got another red card in the same game last weekend when he took the Welsh wing out in the air (and the whinging poms were at it again saying the latter jumped in the air aiming at Steward’s head rather than actually trying to catch the ball!). With morons like that running the game what chance has it got of convincing any parent of letting their kids play it?!
The biggest problem here is that as WR tries to introduce more rules, we will need more scrutiny, thereby slowing the game down and making for finer indiscretions both by players and officials. The rules from about 2010 provided for the most exciting: safe rugby.
As for Farrell. Good riddance you useless halfwit! Take your ungrateful silver medal and sit down. WR has so much explaining to do trying to protect him. PS watch the red cards fly during the World Cup!
what i can’t understand is the sentencing.
i quote:
“the committee applied world rugby’s mandatory minimum mid-range entry point for foul play resulting in contact with the head (six matches).
“taking all considerations into account, including the player’s acceptance of foul play, clear demonstration of remorse and his good character, the committee agreed to a four-match suspension.”
there is a “mandatory minimum … of 6 weeks” but somehow on the FOURTH occasion of him receiving sanction his “good character” (did you see him swearing at the welsh players after the incident), “remorse” (his fourth sanction?), and his “acceptance” (“i still think it’s only a yellow card”) resulted in a lighter sentence. despite three previous suspensions?
to make it even worse, the sentence was backdated to include last week’s test against ireland, despite him having been available for selection – and having had the coach earlier in the week confirm that he would be on the bench for that weekend, showing that he was part of the planning and training for the week. there was initialy no intention on the part of the english setup not to play him. only once they realised that there was the potential (almost certainty) of the decision being overturned did they backtrack. farrell himself, and his team mates, was of the opinion that he could (and would play (despite “remorse” and “character” and “acceptance”).
the RFU seems to have outsized influence on world rugby, and it’s sickening.
Your last sentence is for me the most important. As a pom who ran away from England as soon as I graduated but still supported their win at Ellis Park in 1972, I eventually realised what a malevolent influence they had on rugby – for example trying to keep it amateur so their toff public schoolboys could still win a few games. Unhappily I have to include the New Zealanders in that as well – for example the reason I believe we have so many head injuries is because they managed to stifle the proposed breakdown revisions in 2016 as it would have messed up their turnover play that led to all this biff-bang-wallop nonsense we see these days (and the ridiculous amount of kicking these days too). It’s good to see that these malign influences are perhaps being reduced but it’s taken way too long.
I think it is time for a new rule requiring players to keep their feet on the ground barring three occassions namely 1) Jumping in the line out, 2) to avoid stepping on a player and 3) catching the ball without the possibility of making contact with any player. This will avoid the chances of further injuries to players such as happened to Grant Williams recently.