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'This is disgusting' - Rugby reacts as a police called in to investigate racist abuse directed at Ashton Hewitt
The rugby community has come out to roundly condemn racist abuse directed at Dragons wing Ashton Hewitt, who has asked for help to track down the person or persons behind a fake account that has been directing vitriol in his direction.
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Hewitt, who has been at the forefront of championing the anti-racism movement in the sport, was tagged by an account that presented itself using racist imagery and words, following the Dragons defeat to Scarlets in the PRO14.
Hewitt responded to the Tweet, asking Twitter to help track him down the person responsible: “This is what a Rugby fan somewhere (in Wales I think) wants me to see after a game.
“Pleaaase someone find out and tell me who it is.”
This is what a Rugby fan somewhere (in Wales I think) wants me to see after a game.
Pleaaase someone find out and tell me who it is. pic.twitter.com/4WGXZ0eyXB
— Ashton Hewitt ????????? (@ashton_hewitt) January 1, 2021
Hewitt received windfall of support from the rugby community on Twitter, who roundly condemned the behaviour.
“This is disgusting,” wrote Nigel Owens. “Stay strong mate and hope they find this person and he is dealt with and name and shamed too. Some of these idiots like this one on social media should be banned for life from it.”
Dragons hooker Richard Hibbard wrote: “It is wrong on so many ****ing levels, about time you need Identification to sign up to social media, and be accountable to the awful things you say and do!
Ashton Hewitt should never have to put up with awful shit like this!”
South Wales Police have asked Hewitt to report the matter: “Hi Ashton. We’ve been made aware of your tweet, and we’re very sorry to hear about this. If you’ve not done so already, please don’t hesitate to contact police and we can discuss. Take care.”
Hi @ashton_hewitt we’ve been made aware of your tweet, and we’re very sorry to hear about this.
ADVERTISEMENTIf you’ve not done so already, please don’t hesitate to contact police and we can discuss. Take care. #diolch ^sf
— South Wales P?lice (@swpolice) January 1, 2021
“This is disgusting!,” wrote Scarlets player Marc Jones. “What plonker would go out of their way to create this. Stay strong and hopefully the person gets a good roughing up by the guards.”
This is disgusting! what plonker would go out of their way to create this. Stay strong and hopefully the person gets a good roughing up by the guards.
— Marc Jones (@Marc_jones2) January 2, 2021
Hewitt’s former head coach at Dragons, Bernard Jackman wrote: “So sorry [Ashton Hewitt] that you have to face this nonsense. Twitter can you help trace the owner of this account and get the police involved ?”
So sorry @ashton_hewitt that you have to face this nonsense. @Twitter can you help trace the owner of this account and get the @metpoliceuk involved ? https://t.co/D4G3gqkw5P
— Bernard Jackman (@bernardjackman) January 2, 2021
The matter has now been reported by Dragons Rugby to the police. The region issued the following statement: “Dragons Rugby is disgusted and appalled at an abhorrent racist post on social media yesterday evening targeting Ashton Hewitt.
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“Dragons finds all forms of discriminatory behaviour totally unacceptable and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.
“The individual who expressed these views does not represent the values of our game. We thank supporters who have also condemned this post on social media and shown their support for Ashton.
“Dragons take all reports of hate crime extremely seriously. Such behaviour has no place online, in our stadium, in our community or in our game.
“As a region, Dragons Rugby celebrates equality, diversity, respect and inclusion, we firmly stand behind Ashton and continue to fully support his outstanding efforts when trying to eradicate racial prejudice wherever it exists. This is a constant battle for Ashton and the region recognises how difficult the past few months have been for him.”
Comments on RugbyPass
personally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
23 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
158 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
52 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
9 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
23 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
9 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
9 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
2 Go to commentsYes, another example of French tv directors ensuring that incidents like this are swiftly glossed over for the benefit of their teams…
1 Go to commentsThe prospect of the club match ups across hemispheres is surely appetising for everyone. The reality however, may prove to be slightly different. There are currently two significant driving forces that have delivered to same teams consistently to the latter champions cup stages for years now. The first of those is the yawning gap in finances, albeit delivered by different routes. In France it’s wealthy private owners operating with a higher salary cap by some distance compared to England. In Ireland it’s led by a combination of state tax relief support, private Leinster academy funding and IRFU control - the provincial budgets are not equal! This picture is not going to change anytime soon. The second factor is the EPCR competition rules. You don’t need a PhD. in advanced statistical analysis from oxbridge to see the massive advantage bestowed upon the home team through every ko round of the tournament. The SA teams will gain the opportunity for home ko ties in due course but that could actually polarise the issue even further, just look at their difficulties playing these ties in Europe and then reverse them for the opposition travelling to SA. Other than that, the picture here is unlikely to change either, with heavyweight vested interests controlling the agenda. So what does all this point to for the club world championship? Well the financial differential between the nh and sh teams is pretty clear. And the travel issues and sporting challenge for away teams are significantly exacerbated beyond those already seen in the EPCR tournaments. So while the prospect of those match ups may whet our rugby appetites, I’m very much still to be convinced the reality will live up to expectations…
1 Go to commentsThe manipulative and cynical Erasmus….
9 Go to commentsWe see you World Rugby….we see you🤡😏
52 Go to commentsBoks are lucky to have a player of the calibre of PSDT in their ranks😍
7 Go to commentsI really like what the boks have done with bringing Vermeulen into their coaching setup. Perhaps they would have gone to france anyway, but Lawes and Farrell could at least have been offered assistant coaching roles. Lawes could probably aptly fill the brief (breakdown, contact skills, and handling) just given to Strawbridge; and Farrell could be a pretty good like for like replacement for Sinfield when he leaves. I probably wouldn’t want them in the national team set up just yet, but it would be good to see strings pulled to either get May, Youngs, Cole, & Care player-coaching roles in the premiership, or to move them into the under 20s coaching staff.
2 Go to commentsSo spiteful that the Springboks won again, they just had to change the laws so that they would stand a chance.
52 Go to commentsWhy would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
158 Go to comments> with Sky TV in New Zealand saying it has seen an 11 per cent lift in overall viewership this year. It’s easy for these kiwi “journalists” to throw around meaningless numbers to make it seem that things are improving, but if you look at the stats behind this 11 percent it says that after 10 rounds of rugby there is only a paltry 160k cumulative viewers in total.. That is on average 16k viewers watching a single round of Super Rugby. I very much doubt any of the other numbers that Gregor so proudly “reports” on.
38 Go to commentsGoode is a Prop that played Flyhalf…. Who gives a Sh@#t what he thinks anyway!
158 Go to commentsOne would hope when a player of such caliber is approached for transfer is traversed a lot more carefully. The question I ask, “is the players agent raising red flags in the first instance of contact”. By what I read assumptions are made by nzr based on player welfare provided to them. So what is that? Is it a wholistic approach where family balance is taken into account. Because thay’s what’s in the mix when players go off shore. I realize the money is a huge factor but when negotiations are initiated is nzr involved. As Lendrum says having our best players available is paramount to our success So here’s hoping they are effectively communicating.
4 Go to commentsPSTD, I salute you.
7 Go to comments