RWC 2015: England captain Chris Robshaw at centre of 'Beats by Dre' headphone dispute with RFU
The fallout from England's Rugby World Cup elimination continues to dominate the headlines with their captain at the centre of a commercial dispute
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Your support makes all the difference.England captain Chris Robshaw has found himself at the centre of a row involving the Rugby Football Union after he was involved in a commercial campaign for ‘Beats by Dr Dre’ headphones.
The England squad have made a habit of walking from the team bus to the Twickenham Stadium gates through a tunnel of fans since Stuart Lancaster introduced the idea in 2014. However, due to an agreement with certain sponsors, the England squad were banned from using any headphones other than Samsung’s when travelling to games during the Rugby World Cup.
Other agreements have led to players being banned from writing newspaper columns despite having to make themselves available for multiple media opportunities and, according to The Telegraph, the measures have been described as “over-zealous”.
A source told the Telegraph: “It may seem like a small thing but some of the guys owned ‘Beats by Dr Dre’ headphones but they were told they could not wear them when they got off the bus and walked to the changing rooms as part of their pre-match routine.
“The RFU were that sensitive to Samsung at that micro level but it was an issue with some of the players. A lot of them had their own headphones but couldn’t use them.”
While the RFU is not able to prevent players from taking part in commercial activities outside of their time with the national set-up, the commercial department are believed to have been outraged by Robshaw’s appearance in ‘Beats by Dre’ adverts throughout the World Cup.
Head coach Stuart Lancaster has already said that the confusion over the agreements did not contribute to England embarrassingly early exit from their own World Cup. Back-to-back defeats to Wales and Australia left the host nation unable to progress from Pool A.
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