New Zealand rugby union chiefs on Thursday condemned “lowlife” racial abuse aimed at Auckland Blues coach Pat Lam after the team’s worst-ever start to a Super Rugby season.
New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) chief executive Steve Tew said he was appalled at the attacks, while Blues chief executive Andy Dalton described them as “ugly” and “totally unacceptable.”
Lam, a New Zealander of Samoan descent, broke down in tears on Wednesday describing how he and his family have faced anonymous racial abuse on social media and talkback radio over the Blues’ performances.
Dalton said some comments on the Blues’ own Web site had suggested the team’s form slump was because of Lam’s Pacific island background, despite attempts to moderate the site’s content.
“We are dealing with a lot of criticism that is racially motivated on our Web site, we’re deleting that and have filters in place, but some of it’s getting through and certainly some has impacted on Pat’s family,” Dalton told Radio New Zealand. “I can’t even repeat them, I wouldn’t waste my breath frankly, but they are absolutely lowlife.”
Dalton said the entire Auckland franchise was hurting after losing five of their first six opening matches, but singling out Lam’s ethnicity was not acceptable.
“It’s not racism within Auckland rugby, I think it’s an element of our society,” he said. “It’s a very ugly part of our society and we’ve all got a responsibility to shut that down.”
Tew said the NZRU had a zero-tolerance approach to racism, but the anonymous jibes about Lam’s ethnicity pointed to a wider problem in New Zealand.
“As a New Zealander — because I don’t think this is only a rugby issue — I’m appalled,” Tew told reporters.
“I find the whole ability by people to hide behind social media, and be faceless and to criticize people personally, and to bring race and religion or anything else into it, is just a very disappointing part of our country,” he said.
Lam choked up on Wednesday recounting the vitriolic attacks he and his family had endured as the three-time champions struggle in this year’s competition.
“It’s the faceless people, and that’s social media and so forth and talkback, when people say things that are pretty offensive, making out that it’s because I’m an islander that we’re losing, that’s just offensive,” he told reporters.
New Zealand is a major destination for migrants from Polynesia and almost a third of the All Blacks’ 30-man squad that won the Rugby World Cup last year boasted Pacific islander heritage.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Liverpool on Tuesday suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers as Andre’s stoppage-time strike sealed a dramatic victory for the English Premier League’s bottom club. Arne Slot’s side fell behind to Rodrigo Gomes’ strike in the closing stages at Molineux. Mohamed Salah hauled Liverpool level with his first goal in 11 top-flight games dating back to November last year. However, Andre’s first goal for Wolves inflicted the latest humbling loss in a chastening season for Liverpool. It was the first time the Premier League’s bottom club had beaten the reigning champions since Crystal Palace defeated Chelsea in 2017. Liverpool
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS