'Core Values' launched

Stakeholders act after difficult summer

Last updated: 24th September 2009  

'Core Values' launched

Hopley (right) at the 'Core Values' launch

There are some outstanding people in the game and it's important to not lose sight of that after a pretty horrific summer.

Damian Hopley
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English rugby union took the first step in the battle to restore its tarnished reputation with the launch of a set of "Core Values" by the Rugby Football Union, in conjunction with Premier Rugby and the players' union.

The idea is to underline all the best aspects of the game following a year in which the image of the 15-man code has taken a severe battering.

A series of high-profile scandals - including England prop Matt Stevens' confessions of cocaine use, the faking of blood injuries at Harlequins and eye-gouging in high-profile international matches - have removed rugby union from its traditional occupation of the sporting moral high ground.

Those events led to the hurried setting up of a new "Image of the Game" group - which will report back at the end of September - but the Core Values task force was formed two years ago in response to concerns that standards of behaviour both of players and spectators in the professional and amateur games were changing for the worse.

With the rapid expansion of the game has come some unwelcome developments from people the RFU said were "less aware of the game's traditions and values than they might have been."

A wide-ranging consultation exercise followed and the result was the enshrining of the five core values of teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship.

Damian Hopley, head of the players' union, said his members had a "burning ambition" to restore the reputation of the game.

Role models

"They want to be out there delivering as role models," he said. "The sport has taken some body blows but the key thing is how we react and this is an important step forward.

"There are some outstanding people in the game and it's important to not lose sight of that after a pretty horrific summer."

RFU chief executive Francis Baron said that the feedback he had received from all levels of the game was 'let's get back to underlying values.'

"What has happened in the summer is not typical in the game," he said. "The Core Values launch would have happened anyway but what happened in the summer has given it added piquancy.

"A major part of ensuring that this is taken up is the elite players. They are massive role models now and essential for embedding the core values."

Comments (3)

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Jeannie Cahill says...

There is a demonstration of true "Core Rugby Values" every time Munster play in Thomond Park. The repect and silence accorded by the crowd to all kicks at goal, regardless of whether it is Munster or the opposition who are kicking, along with a willingness to applaud any remarkable bit of skill from the opposition demonstrates, in my opinion, the true spirit of rugby.

Posted 09:45 25th September 2009

Martin Lovell says...

I totally agree with John Price, lets have respect for all kickers. It seems to be something that has crossed over from football, at Northampton Saints we have complete silence for the kickers, it shows respect and also allows total concentration.

Posted 06:35 25th September 2009

John Price says...

I hope they will try & cut out the booing (now even in New Zealand) of opposition kicks at goal, along with all the other, obviously more important, issues.

Posted 11:07 24th September 2009
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