Great Rugby Arguments: No 3, Rob Andrew vs Olivier Azam (and all of Gloucester)

December 2001.  Enron is filing for bankruptcy, the Tora Bora caves are having the shit beaten out of them, and Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman are number one in the charts. In the midst of all of this misery, Gloucester had just beaten Newcastle 29-25 at Kingsholm and during the game the Falcons' Epi Taioni and Gloucester's Olivier Azam are sent off for a set to. 

In yet another example of his fabulous judgement SMFT Rob Andrew decided to calm the situation down by accusing Azam and the whole Gloucester crowd of racism in the post-match press conference. "Azam called Epi a black bastard and spat in his face. It was a cracking, lively game but it pales into insignificance for me. I don't want to even talk about the game. This is about racism. It came from the crowd too. I could hear it from where I was sitting. I've never experienced anything like it before. It was disgusting. Players inciting crowds to chant racist filth has got to stop. It has got to be rooted out. This is bigger than just a game of rugby.

"Epi is not a violent man, he was just reacting. And he was in tears in the dressing room afterwards. This is a sad day for Gloucester Rugby Club and we will be looking to see if we are going to take any further action."

Azam, adopting a variation on the "some of my best friends are black" theme, denied everything, "I have never made any such remarks to another person. My mother is French and I was born in France but my father is Moroccan. In French culture, this makes me technically 'non-white' myself, so it makes the allegation even more crazy"

In the aftermath Gloucester decided to ban Andrew from the ground until he apologised, with owner Tom Walkinshaw saying, "Rob has a history of shooting off when things haven't gone his way but his remarks last week were, I believe, the most disgraceful ever made at a rugby press conference." Also, Azam threatened to sue Andrew, "I feel these accusations have damaged my reputation and character beyond repair and could have a detrimental effect on my playing career."

Andrew refused to back down - "I am acting as a representative of the player and the club, and a ban on me is effectively a ban on the club. Their action has serious ramifications for the league." - and was still banging the same drum for most of the season.

In the end, the Stupid Mouse-Faced Tit was forced to apologise in 2002 as no evidence could be found for what he had accused the Gloucester hooker of;  this despite his assertion that his own Newcastle players had heard the comments.  A joint statement from the clubs closed the issue with, "Although the remarks were made in good faith based on statements made to Rob Andrew before the press conference, he now accepts that there was insufficient evidence to justify the remarks."

Raking up shit-o-meter score: Mountains of effluent so fetid that it could possibly render anyone who goes within 400 metres of it infertile and blind.

b&m.com opinion:  What a knobhead he is.

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