Twickers keeps trouble at harm's length

"Which way is out?'' Rob Andrew cried as he emerged from the RFU disciplinary panel into a media scrum at Heathrow's Renaissance Hotel. They were the only words the Newcastle director of rugby uttered as he headed for the car park, and it was a good question. The hearings of the Premiership Five were more whitewash than witch-hunt, but the race card has yet to be dealt.

Allegations that Gloucester's Olivier Azam had called Newcastle's Epi Taione a "black bastard'' during the match at Kingsholm two weeks ago were deliberately sidestepped by the tribunal. Instead they concentrated on the physical stuff, banning Azam for five weeks for punching and spitting and Taione for three weeks for punching.

Both players had pleaded guilty, but the charge of racial abuse, which Azam denies, will be the subject of a full-blown inquiry, headed by a senior legal figure.

Robert Horner, the disciplinary officer of the RFU who will set up the inquiry, said it was possible the new panel would not be all-white. "Whether we'll ever get the full story depends on the evidence unearthed and whether it can be fitted together into one coherent issue,'' Horner said. "It's very emotive. It's a bit like turning the clock back eight centuries to witchcraft. If someone was accused of being a witch they were deemed to be one until they proved themselves innocent. An allegation of racism tends to stick without there being a great deal of evidence behind it.'' Andrew, in particular, would have found this remark interesting.

It was wrongly assumed that the disciplinary panel would inevitably hear some evidence relating to the charge of racial abuse, if only because Taione would refer to it in mitigation for punching Azam. However, the two incidents were entirely separate and this in turn led Horner to make another potentially significant observation – that the evidence compiled by Gloucester in a 65-page report, in which 150 people were interviewed, is tainted.

"Gloucester made assumptions as to when the alleged abuse started which are not found to be valid. They weren't looking in the right areas and may have inter-viewed the wrong people. We now know where to look and where to go.'' In other words, all witnesses to the punch-up, which led to the dismissals of Azam and Taione, are irrelevant. As for Andrew's remark that one or two spectators were ejected from the ground for abusing Taione, the only quote on record from the crowd is: "Give him his passport back, he's not worth it.''

After banning Azam and Taione, Commodore Jeff Blackett, Chief Naval Judge Advocate and chairman of the disciplinary panel, declared the racial abuse case sub judice and put a blanket ban on players and officials talking to the press until the inquiry's report is published.

Earlier in the Wellington Room of the hotel, Blackett had dealt with Alex Sanderson, Matt Stewart and Austin Healey as if they had been behaving too boisterously on shore leave in Portsmouth.

Sanderson, charged with spitting during the Leicester-Sale match, was given a reprimand although found guilty of misconduct. He did indeed spit but it was "in the direction of the opposition rather than specifically at one player''. Also taken into account was video evidence provided by Sale which showed that Sanderson "habitually spits during games''. The panel might have suggested that Sanderson should take the field with a spittoon.

Stewart, a Northampton prop, was involved in a high-octane affair against London Irish and after being cited by the commissioner, Johnny Johnson, admitted kneeing and punching. This, the panel concluded, was a "very minor incident'', the blows with knee and fist were "very light and contact was minimal'', and nobody was hurt. Stewart's excellent record for Scotland, the Combined Services, the Army and Northampton was noted.

For kicking, the normal suspension is six weeks, but Healey got three, backdated to the offence, and is not only free to play for England against Scotland on 2 February but for Leicester in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals the previous week. He was found guilty of kicking his Sale opposite number Anthony Elliott, but even so the panel raised the question of when is a kick not a kick. If Healey had kicked the victim on the ground, as he did when he was banned for eight weeks in 1999, he would have been more severely punished.

"Contact was made between Healey's right knee and Elliott's right thigh. We accept Healey's intention was simply to get his opposite number on to the ground after a number of incidents of obstruction. Healey struck out with the foot and in accordance with the dictionary definition it constituted a kick.'' However, in an adjudication that smacked of the treatment of Martin Johnson 12 months ago, when the England captain's ban for violent misconduct did not infringe on his international career, the panel accepted that Healey "did not intend any harm'' and that he has "learnt his lesson from previous indiscretions''. Whereas Azam's ban partly reflected his poor disciplinary record, Healey's conviction for kicking Kevin Putt three years ago was considered irrelevant "as it was an entirely different type of offence''.

Leicester's director of rugby, Dean Richards, a man who would always describe a bottle as half empty rather than half full, thought the adjudication "fair'', which is Deanospeak for getting a very good result indeed. Healey, alias the Leicester Lip, had nothing to say. "Austin has left the building,'' Richards told reporters, adding that this was no more than a blip on Healey's career. Richards saw the incident during the match at Welford Road on 27 December, and it was on 5 January that Leicester said they had fined Healey £1,000 and banned him for two weeks. They were commended for taking "such a swift action''. While the panel is looking up the definition of kick it might care to refer to swift in its dictionary.

The disciplinary process is itself on trial, with a new citing procedure being intro-duced last month. Previously the only people who could cite were the clubs concerned. "They didn't like doing it,'' Horner, in only his second year as disciplinary officer, explained. "Each had their own policy and there was a degree of irreconcilability.''

The RFU have eight citing commissioners, but they are under no obligation to attend matches. "The system is on an experimental basis for the rest of the season,'' Horner said. "And there are things we need to look at and tweak. We are trying to develop a level of norm.''

Chris Spice, the RFU's performance director, wants to see a commissioner at every Premiership game. "We have to move forward,'' Spice said. "There is a lot of nervousness about the procedure.''

Last autumn Peter Anglesea of Sale was banned for a year for gouging and this was overturned on appeal. In another high-profile case Dean Ryan, the Bristol coach, was fined £2,000 and given a four-week touchline ban for criticising a referee. This was considered harsh but it was in reaction to an article on the national team by Rob Andrew which incensed the England coach, Clive Woodward. The impression was that the next man stepping out of line had to be seen to be disciplined, and that man was Ryan.

Andrew, who incidentally was also involved in the citing of Anglesea, has been banned from Kingsholm by Gloucester's owner, Tom Walkinshaw, until the club receive an apology. A ban is unconstitutional and the RFU are unimpressed with the actions of both men.

On 22 January a code of conduct, in which club owners, coaches and players have an input, is expected to be introduced dealing with, among other things, "professional behaviour''. As far as the RFU are concerned, it can't come soon enough.