Rugby Rocked as Stevens Fails Drug Test

England and Bath prop-forward Matt Stevens has admitted to failing a drug test after his club’s Heineken Cup match against Glasgow Warriors last month. This news has shocked many in the world of rugby given both Stevens’ character and the normally clean nature of the sport.

Stevens, who made his England debut in 2004, told Sky Sports News that "I was tested for a prohibited substance but it's not performance enhancing, so you can take what you want from that," thus suggesting that it was a recreational drug, likely to be cocaine or marijuana. He admitted that it had been a long term problem that has built up over months. He has gone to a few counselling sessions, however he had not taken them seriously, and it was his positive test that has given him the kick to try and regain the faith that people have shown in him.

He has been suspended by Bath and has been removed from the England Elite Playing Squad, and will not travel to Portugal with the rest of Martin Johnson’s men. His future in rugby is currently in doubt, with Australian Wendell Sailor who received a two year ban after a positive test for cocaine in 2006 perhaps being an example of the most extreme ramifications that Stevens may face.

The Celebrity X-Factor winner gave a very frank interview, where he admitted all responsibility - almost breaking down while saying: “when you think about how much time and effort that people have put into my career and I have thrown it away with irresponsible behaviour”.

Damien Hopley of the Professional Rugby Players Association was shocked at the news: “He had built a reputation as a fine ambassador for the game, who does a tremendous amount of voluntary work for a number of charities and good causes... We will be doing everything we can to provide Matt with the support he needs at this very difficult time.”

Though what should we make of the news. Surely credit should be given to Stevens for coming out himself and baring all, although it would have been a matter of time before the test results were revealed. Equally, he did not try and hide the results behind a nasal spray or other medication.

As one of Bath’s driving forces this season, he has been caught up in what only too many can relate to in society, but due to his status it has made the headlines. He should have known better as a high profile name, but if it is as we are being led to believe only the recreational drugs of cocaine or marijuana, surely it does not matter. In politics big deals are made of MPs taking drugs at university, but surely again this is an irrelevance. It is not performance enhancing and far from enhancing his performance on the pitch, it is more likely to hinder it.

As a role model perhaps he should be reprimanded with a fine and a ban to send out a message to those who aspire to wear the Red Rose, or any other crest on their shirts. However, there is no need to lock him up with ball-and-chain, and equally the ban should not be too severe.

As a human, Bath Rugby, the RFU and the PRA should help Stevens overcome his problem; and as fans we should eagerly await his comeback and a return to form which has been pivotal for Bath this season, and has surely helped drive Phil Vickery to rediscover some of his old spark.

Link to the Sky Sports Interview

Will Gilgrass - 21st January 2008

Slick Saints leave Leicester with much to work on

Northampton Saints vs. Leicester Tigers
Franklin’s Gardens
10th January 2009
Guinness Premiership
HT – 10-6
FT – 17-13

Northampton outplayed their East Midlands rivals despite what the scoreboard may suggest. The Saint’s maintained their unbeaten run at Franklin’s Gardens with a 17-13 victory as Leicester’s poor form on their travels continued. Northampton’s midfield of Lee Dickson, Stephen Myler and James Downey cut through and dominated their more illustrious counterparts. They were supported by the pace of Ben Foden (Man of the Match) and running of Paul Diggin, who scored twice to seal the win for Northampton.

The score-line flattered Leicester, as Myler – who was second in the Premiership kicking charts before this game – missed 16-points from his boot. Leicester were unable to capitalize, and without their hands on the ball they could not take advantage of Outside-Centre Seru Rabeni, who made such an impact last week against Bath.

England potential Ben Foden, who moved to Northampton from Sale as a 9, had a superb game at Full-Back. His impact into the Saints’ attacking line created the first of Diggin’s two tries, and he was to claim one of his own in the second half. His kicking game is perhaps something which needs to be worked on, but under pressure he was calm and worked Saints out of danger. After moving to Scrum-Half for the last 20 minutes, he ordered his forwards around effectively proving that he is adapt behind the scrum and at Full-Back. After today’s performance along with others this season, he will certainly be on Martin Johnson’s radar for England’s Elite Squad for their Six Nations campaign.

It was Foden, and the distribution of Dickson, which kept Northampton going forward, with Leicester being unable to slow down the potent Northampton attack. This is indeed how they scored their first try in the 12th minute, as Downey drew the Leicester midfield creating space for Foden to exploit the space before putting away Diggin. It was just ten minutes later that after more sniping from Dickson, Downey was able to put the Saints winger – Diggin – away for his second try of the evening.

Leicester stayed in the game with two penalties from Toby Flood seeing his side going into the break only four points behind at 10-6 – as the Tigers looked like they were going to capitalize on Myler’s misfortunes with the kicking tee. Although the Premiership finalists of last year were unable to find a cutting edge throughout the match, as Saints slowed the play while in defence, and runners of the likes of Ben Kay and Aaron Mauger failing to take the ball at any pace consistently.

Leicester’s selection did seem to have one eye on next weekend’s Heineken Cup clash against Treviso, with Lewis Moody rested with a slight niggle, and the likes of Martin Castrogiovanni and ex-England captain Marin Corry only making the bench. When these two did come off the bench Leicester seemed to have a bit more bit in the forwards, and the half-time substitution of Scott Hamilton added the spark Leicester’s attack was missing in the first 40-minutes.

This isn’t to take anything away from Northampton, who in front of their largest gate of the season – 13,582 – produced an inspirational display which was topped off with Foden’s try after 50-minutes, and Myler finally converted. Toby Flood scored a try after quick thinking from Julien Dupuy to set up a grandstand finish, which the Guinness Premiership has come to expect, though the England Fly-Half had a poor game, despite scoring all 13 of the visitor’s points.

Northampton (10) 17
Tries: Diggin 2, Foden Con: Myler

Leicester (6) 13
Try: Flood Con: Flood Pens: Flood 2

Northampton: Foden, Diggin, Clarke, Downey (Mayor – 72), Lamont, Myler, Dickson (Reihana – 72); Smith (Tonga'uiha – 53), Hartley, Murray, Fernandez Lobbe (capt), Kruger, Easter, Gray, Hopley.
Leicester: G Murphy, J Murphy (Hamilton – 40), Rabeni, Mauger (capt), Smith, Flood, Dupuy (Youngs – 62); Stankovich (Castrogiovanni – 55), Chuter, White, Wentzel, Kay, Croft, Herring (Newby – 11), Deacon

Will Gilgrass - 10th January 2008

Will the Credit-Crunch Hit the Premiership?!

With the World and particularly Britain’s desperate economic situation, will the Premiership suffer?

What effects could the recession have on the Premiership? Last year saw top-flight clubs total £1.8-billion in revenue, with the main bulk of this coming from TV coverage, sponsorship and match day income. If rugby is anything to go by, TV money will not be affected too badly. Last month, Premier Rugby was able to announce two-new deals which will see an increase in revenue for clubs by 45%. There is no reason to think that this would not be even greater for football, especially given its increased demand across the globe.

However it will be the other two sources of money which might dry up. Manchester United’s principle sponsors – AIG – almost went into liquidation after the Lehman Brothers collapse. The Premiership champions signed a £56.5-million shirt deal last year with the American firm, which is the biggest of its kind in English football. Obviously if the insurance company had gone under, then Manchester United would have been in a very difficult situation. However, for a club of their stature, they probably would not have had too much of a problem finding a new deal. But smaller clubs, such as West Ham who lost their sponsorship at the beginning of the season after the holiday firm XL went into administration, do not have as easy a time.

West Ham are just one of the clubs who are in financial difficulties, with rumours linking such star players like Matt Upson, Craig Bellamy and Scott Parker with moves out of the club. This policy to ease their debt and wage bill was evident in the summer: with the transfer of Anton Ferdinand to Sunderland, without the manager’s consent lead to Alan Curbishley tendering his resignation.

Match day income is undoubtedly going to take a hit. As thousands lose their jobs across the country, people are not going to be able to afford the replica kits and the various other bits of club merchandise. Further, unless the price of tickets decreases, attendances will also tumble. Moreover, corporate hospitality is a very important source of income which is often overlooked. Premiership grounds claim vast income from corporate boxes. But with many of the companies which occupy them needing to make cut-backs to prevent themselves from going under and laying off staff, an obvious and logical first step would be to reduce executive-perks.

Can we then see the lack of spending in this transfer window as a demonstration that clubs are struggling? Man City are obviously an exception with their trillions from the Middle East – expect to see much more action from them before January 31^st. Equally, despite the £15-million fee Spurs paid for Defoe, in reality it is only a fraction of this which left the North London club’s bank account: not only was there a £4-million future transfer clause which was to return to Spurs; but Portsmouth also still owed the Carling Cup holders monies from the Kaboul and Pedro Mendes transfers.

Furthermore, with ignoring the speculation about how Mark Hughes will spend his Abu Dhabi millions, there are very few big transfer rumours. Sir Alex Ferguson and Phil Scolari have both ruled their clubs out of spending any money in this window, as well as David Moyes: but this decision has probably been forced upon him rather than out of choice.

Having said all of this, by this point last year the two largest transfers to have gone through were far from inspirational moves, both by bottom of the table Derby – who bought Robbie Savage from Blackburn for £1.5-million and Emanuel Villa for £2-million. Equally, January has not really seen the same spending that has been associated with summer transfers: last year only Nicolas Anelka’s £15-million move and again Spurs’ signings of Jonathan Woodgate and Alan Hutton from Rangers commanded large fees, which mainly happened in the second half of the window.

At this moment in time, there does not appear to be too much danger of a Premiership club falling into administration, but the memory of Leeds will perhaps make some chairman sleep uneasily. There certainly is, on the other hand, the very real threat that teams lower down the divisions will fall into financial difficulties – with many examples of clubs nose-diving through the divisions because of lack of funds, like Luton, occurring even before this crisis.

This season, the shirts and season tickets had already been bought before economists and newspapers were talking of world recession. However, I think we will have to wait until next season, when the new range of merchandise comes out, season tickets need renewing and sponsorship deals get signed before football feels the real effect of credit-crunch.

Will Gilgrass - 9th January 2009

Does Andy Murray Have What it Takes to Win a Grand Slam?!

Not since Fred Perry won the Wimbledon and US Open titles in 1936 has Britain produced a male Grand Slam winner. Throughout the late-1990s and early 2000s for a fortnight in the summer, Britain held their collective breaths while Tim Henman inevitably faltered again in his attempts to win Wimbledon. However, now a temperamental Scot, entering his fourth year as a pro, seems on the verge of ending a 73-year drought.

I tend to be wary when British sportspeople or teams have greatness and high expectation thrown onto them. It transcends itself into national hype and the inevitable disappointment when the country’s hope falls along with their unfounded expectation. Though after Andy Murray’s victory in Abu Dhabi, and his sensational development since he turned pro in 2005, there is a very real possibility that the Scot could prosper this year.

Let us try and avoid the usual temptation to heap too much pressure on the 21-year-old’s shoulders: he won the first exhibition tournament of the year. The players would have been rusty having come off their pre-season breaks. Furthermore, Murray only had to overcome three rounds in best of three sets – therefore not even getting close to the two-week, best of five set contests which the four grand-slams demand.

Though Murray’s development does dispels questions asking whether this latest victory was just a flash in the pan: not only did he overcome the number one and two ranked players in the world to win in the United Arab Emirates’ debut tournament; but a number of encouraging performances last year which saw him reach the US Open Final and win the Cincinnati and Madrid Masters, suggest that he could be the first British male winner of a Grand Slam in the Open Era.

Murray’s best chance, one would have thought, would be on the hard courts of Flushing Meadows after his successes their last time around – but it might just be the Australian Open, starting on the 19th January, where the 21 year old makes history. He has recorded victories over the three players ranked above him according to the ATP: Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic. Moreover, he certainly does not lack the self motivation and determination required to win; and having just signed with Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment PR agency, he might well soon have the superstar profile to support a Grand Slam winner.


Will Gilgrass – 4th January 2008