LIST: 5 players whose personal life scandals shocked the rugby world
Rugby NewsTuesday, 01 June 2021 at 15:28
The rugby world is no stranger to huge scandals, and there are very few which shocked rugby fans around the world more than these ones...
#1. Mike Tindall down under
Tindall - who was newly married to the Queen’s granddaughter in 2011 - had insisted he went back to his hotel alone after CCTV captured him canoodling with the young woman in the Altitude bar in Queenstown. Tindall assured England team managers and his public relations representatives that the claims were false, but the image, which is pretty damning, was published across the world .
#2. Paddy Jackson (2015-17)
The rugby world was rocked mid-decade by the antics of Paddy Jackson, Stuart Olding, Blane McIlroy and Rory Harrison, who stood accused of raping a 21-year-old in Belfast. Distasteful messages emerged from the quartet’s phones that certainly didn’t aid their popularity, but when all was said and done, they were acquitted.
#3. The player and the princess
Former England captain Will Carling did little for both his clean cut image and the name of rugby when he hit the headlines in mid- 1990s after allegedly having a romantic relationship with Princess Diana. Divorce between Carling and his wife Julia followed and it wasn’t long before the tabloids were dubbing the ex-Harlequins man a love rat.
#4. Lawrence Dallaglio (1997)
Dallaglio resigned the England captaincy following newspaper allegations that he had taken and dealt hard drugs. The number 8 categorically denied the claims made in the News of the World. Dallaglio added: “The circumstances in which the supposed admissions were obtained amounted to an elaborate set-up.”
But editor Phil Hall said: “We stand by our story. Lawrence Dallaglio is damned in his own words and frankly, we are amazed at his denial.”
The RFU dropped drugs charges against Dallaglio after ‘new evidence’ emerged during an open hearing chaired by a high court judge who decided not to ban him but instead imposed a fine of £15,000 for bringing the game into disrepute.
#5. Johan Ackermann (1997)
The second row was banned for drugs in 1997 - just four games after making his Springboks debut - when a friend in the police force told him that taking nandrolone would speed up his recovery from a knee injury
Ackermann spent the next two years continuing his work as a firearms instructor in Pretoria before making his return to rugby .
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