English rugby has endured a dispiriting summer, but someone still has a sense of humour in the wake of the Bloodgate affair. Dean Richards, a 40-year-old official from Berkshire, has been chosen to referee Harlequins' opening Guinness Premiership match against London Wasps at Twickenham this Saturday – proof that sledgehammer wit is alive and well within the game.
Given that the "other" Dean Richards has just been banned for three years for his part in the fake blood scandal and subsequent cover-up, his namesake's appointment is a mischievous postscript to a story with few other cheerful aspects. More muck is set to be raked today after European Rugby Cup Ltd confirmed it would be publicly releasing the full transcripts of the appeal hearings last month, which also saw Quins fined £260,000.
Sources say the contents are less explosive than the testimony given by the Quins winger Tom Williams, who alleged that club officials put pressure on him to lie to the appeal tribunal. There is believed to be more detail, however, relating to Williams's admission that he asked the club to pay off the mortgage on the house owned by himself and his girlfriend. There also remains the issue of whether the four previous instances of Quins indulging in blood-related skulduggery will be revealed.
Steph Brennan, the former club physiotherapist who received a two-year ban for his part in the saga, is believed to have provided the details to the disciplinary panel.
There continues to be legal disquiet, meanwhile, about the manner in which the case details have been publicised. Friends of Richards believe the early release of Williams's testimony ran contrary to accepted practice and that all the evidence should have been released simultaneously.
They also continue to stress that Richards's primary motivation in lying to the original hearing was to safeguard the future of the club doctor, Wendy Chapman, after he learned she had cut Williams's mouth in the dressing room following the notorious European Cup quarter-final against Leinster at The Stoop. Richards's advisers were also unhappy he was permitted only one full working day in which to construct a verbal counter-argument to Williams' prepared statement. He has yet to make a decision on whether to challenge his three-year ban through the European Court of Justice.
ERC will debate its next move at a board meeting in Dublin today amid persistent speculation that Quins could yet be banned from this season's Heineken Cup, which commences in early October.
Tonight the England team manager Martin Johnson added his voice to the chorus of disapproval, describing the Bloodgate furore as "a sorry episode" and "sad for the game". Johnson, a close colleague of Richards when they were players at Leicester, expressed some sympathy for his old team-mate but believes the incident has tarnished Quins' reputation. "Dean's taken a desperate gamble and it's clearly wrong. He's been caught out, he's paid a heavy price and the game's been dragged through the mud," said Johnson, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live.
"I'm particularly sad because Dean is probably the biggest name in Leicester Tigers' history. For a club like Quins it's taken away all the good things they've done on and off the field."
Johnson said he had never seen a blood capsule during his time as England's captain and team manager and, referring to the drug issues at Bath last season, called for players to be more self-disciplined. "Players have got to understand that with the privileges of professional rugby comes responsibility."
The Wales captain Ryan Jones, meanwhile, has been reappointed as captain of Ospreys for the new season. "I realise that over the last few weeks the coaching team have been looking at the situation and assessing how the playing squad works together," Jones said. "And I'm proud that, having looked closely at a very strong group of players, they have shown faith in my abilities to lead the Ospreys."
