Three England players were put under pressure by the English Rugby Football Union (RFU) at the Rugby World Cup to pay NZ$30,000 (US$22,197) to buy the silence of a chambermaid who had alleged she had been harassed, the Times reported yesterday.
The newspaper said the cash was to compensate her for alleged verbal sexual harassment by the players at the team hotel in Dunedin in September — for which the police found no case to answer — and to prevent her selling her story to the media.
England’s James Haskell, Chris Ashton and Dylan Hartley refused to pay the money, saying they had done nothing wrong, the Times reported.
The RFU was unavailable for comment.
Chambermaid Annabel Newton alleged that she had been traumatized and had left the players’ room in tears, but the incident was recorded on camera by Haskell, which showed her with her thumbs up and smiling, the paper added.
The RFU said in a statement earlier this month that the “allegations of very serious wrongdoing” against the three players were “entirely false.”
One of the players, quoted anonymously in a confidential Rugby Players’ Association (RPA) report into the World Cup debacle, which was leaked to the Times, said that two days before the Scotland game he was told he had 24 hours to decide whether to settle with the chambermaid for NZ$30,000 or not.
“Paying the money seemed to be the advice. Another option wasn’t really given,” the player said in the report.
“We refused to pay because we hadn’t done what she claimed we had done. So we went to find our own lawyers in NZ because we felt the RFU QC was interested in defending the RFU’s reputation rather than ours,” the player said.
The players said they had made an inappropriate joke, but nothing more, the Times reported.
Elite rugby director Rob Andrew was quoted in the RFU’s statement on the incident saying: “We do not believe the players had any intention to sexually harass or intimidate Ms Newton.”
The chambermaid’s story was published in a Sunday newspaper.
When they returned home, Haskell and Ashton were warned about their future conduct by the RFU and given suspended fines of £5,000 (US$7,700), until Dec. 31 next year, for breaching the squad’s code of conduct. Hartley was cleared of any involvement.
The latest revelations follow the leaking of three confidential reports to the Times -— including the RPA report -— revealing widespread friction within the England camp.
They pointed to a squad in meltdown and leadership failings greater than even England’s dismal performance suggested.
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Roger Federer on Wednesday said that staying involved with tennis in retirement helped him avoid feeling “like an alien” ahead of this week’s Laver Cup in Berlin. Federer, who helped create the tournament, retired at the Laver Cup in London two years ago and has since stayed involved with the competition as an ambassador. “I’m happy I went back right away to some tournaments,” the 43-year-old told reporters. “I feel I ripped the Band-Aid off quite quickly and when I walk around the tennis sites I still feel I belong there,” he said. “I don’t feel like an alien, which is a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two