Letter to the Rugby Paper

The weakness that the writer ('Mr Peter Warren') was alleging was in the performance of the officials who according to Mr Warren 'allowed Caldy to play like a soccer team against Rosslyn Park' and alleging that Caldy players were arguing with the referee, standing offside, holding onto the ball after infringements, obstructing runners and got a Rosslyn Park player red carded by feigning injury'

According to Mr Warren Caldy did not play in the spirit that rugby should be played in.

I am shocked and dismayed that the Rugby Paper published this letter because if The Rugby Paper had decided to do any investigation whatsoever it would have seen that Mr Warren's letter had no basis in fact at all and was clearly just a case of Mr Warren being upset that his side lost a game of rugby and taking out his frustrations on Caldy and the Officials.

I was at the game and I didn't see any of what Mr Warrem alleges and anyone reviewing the video footage of the incident for which Benji Marfo was red carded could only conclude that the referee was completely correct in his decision. Caldy's prop Nathan Rushton who was on the ground at a ruck was illegally holding Marfo's foot ...Marfo took the law into his own hands and repeatedly knee dropped onto Nathan Rushton's head .......it was one of the clearest red cards I have ever seen. The referee rightly also sent Rushton to the bin for 10 minutes for his own illegal offence.

Here is the 7 minute video from Rosslyn Park that shows highlights of the game and the red card incident. Judge for yourselves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVy1S9BBR44  the incident is about 2 minutes into Rosslyn Park's video clip

The Rosslyn Park supporters I talked to were magnaminous in defeat ..........Mr Warren's sour grapes doesn't become rugby or Rosslyn Park but  it is inexcusable for The Rugby Paper to publish Mr Warren's letter which maligns Caldy and the officials on the day.

The match was a magnificent game of rugby played in a good spirit. 

I will be writing to The Rugby Paper

I think crying to a newspaper after your team has lost instead of acting with some grace and respect to the victors  is far from 'the spirit of rugby' . I suppose the 7 other defeats were all someone else's fault too 

Quite why the rugby paper felt it worthwhile to include what is is essence some post match clubhouse 'we was robbed' talk is another matter.

Absolutely no need for it.

After a centre page spread post yesterdays result 

Try 5 was a forward pass and try 7 could well have been offside! 

Unfortunately Mr Warren's allegations published by The Rugby Paper are no less offensive for being brief. The Rugby Paper could have made it even shorter and just have paraphrased Mr Warren ........

If I was referee Adam Wookey I would be furious at the Rugby Paper. I thought he had a very decent game and he handled the Benji Marfo incident expertly and correctly as the sound track on the video clip makes completely clear. At no point in the game was I at all critical of his decsion making, he let the game flow which was why it was such a fast paced tumultuous game. In my book any game where I don't particularly notice the referee's involvement is almost always a decent performance by the official.

The Rugby Paper owe Adam Wookey an apology and the RFU should be stepping in to support their officials.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVy1S9BBR44.....two minutes in

At the foot of the back page of Rosslyn Park's match day programme Rosslyn Park has the following fine words:

Rosslyn Park is a fine rugby club and no blame should be attached to them for the contents of Mr Warren's letter. That lies entirely with Mr Warren and The Rugby Paper....with the Rugby Paper being the most culpable....they should know better

It also seems that geography isn't one of Mr Warren's strong points either.