Barbiegate four 'named and shamed'
Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:10
Closing ranks: The Barbiegate four may be \'named and shamed\'
Four England players at the centre of allegations of sexual assault could be named by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to protect other squad members.
The RFU is considering setting up an internal inquiry, to be conducted by disciplinary officer Jeff Blackett.
"The team can't come back (from New Zealand) and nothing happens," Blackett, the Judge Advocate General, told the Sunday Telegraph.
"Something's got to happen and something has to be made public."
The England squad fly home on Sunday after losing the second Test in Christchurch on Saturday.
The police investigation into the alleged incident, which took place after the first Test in Auckland the previous Saturday, 14 June, is unlikely to continue unless the alleged victim lodges a formal complaint.
The four players were advised by the RFU's lawyer, Richard Smith QC, to decline being interviewed by police on the grounds that no such complaint has been made.
But the RFU is concerned that all the players in the squad could be affected by association with the allegations, regardless of their involvement.
"The consideration that there are a number of entirely uninvolved players - and that unless others are named those innocent players may be tainted by association - is a consideration we have to think about," Blackett said.
Police confirmed that all the England players were free to leave New Zealand as scheduled.
Rob Andrew, the RFU's elite rugby director who stepped in as tour manager for the squad in New Zealand in the absence of Martin Johnson, declined to comment on any potential disciplinary action.
But he will be meeting Johnson, who takes over officially on 1 July, this week on the squad's return.
Their primary focus will be deciding on the make-up of a 32-man elite player squad for next season, to be named on the day Johnson takes over.
But Johnson will also have an input into a new disciplinary code of conduct that all elite squad players must sign up to.
Under the existing code of conduct, the England players did not break any rules by staying out late after the 37-20 first Test defeat in Auckland.
But RFU chief executive Francis Baron said on Friday that they would consider banning players from bringing women back to their hotel rooms on future tours.
