Gouger handed mammoth ban
19 Jan 2010
David Attoub has been banned for 70 weeks for eye-gouging Stephen Ferris.
Stade Francais prop Attoub was given the second most strict penalty in the professional era for his attack on the Ulster flanker. In the same match, Attoub’s team-mate Julien Dupuy was handed a 24-week ban, also for gouging Ferris.
Attoub’s ban was back-dated to the day of the match on 18 December, and he’ll be out of rugby until 22 April 2011, effectively one-month sort of the whole of the next European season.
24 Comments
19 Jan 2010, 17:31 pm
Good! Wonder how the Bakkies Bothas and Brad Thorns of this world will react to sentences like this
19 Jan 2010, 17:33 pm
this may be the deterrent needed…
19 Jan 2010, 19:06 pm
@Richie_7:
I suppose you could just ask Bakkies himself, given his 8-week suspension in 2003 for “attacking the face” of Brendon Cannon which he later admitted in an interview with the Times (UK) was “for an eye-gouge”. Thru lack of evidence, he escaped the biting charge in the same Test (despite a rather graphic photo showing clear bite marks).
The reason players keep doing these things is because administrators, until today with Attoub, have been too soft. Bakkies was banned after his debut Test for horrific stamping (2002), and the Cannon incident came in his 1st/2nd Test after that.
Thorn has never been cited nor banned for gouging.
19 Jan 2010, 23:19 pm
@Richie_7:
When did Thorn eye gouge?
But i think its about time for these sorts of sentences to be handed out.
19 Jan 2010, 23:30 pm
@Hurricane:
The NZRFU, to their credit, handed out a 6month sentence for gouging 20years ago (R.Loe).
Why has it taken this long for the matter to be taken seriously by other governing bodies ? When Bakkies was banned for gouging Cannon, J.White fell over himself in haste to defend him as entirely innocent and no apology was offered at all, quite the opposite. No wonder the nation falls in behind the armband disgrace.
We can all expect a punch here or there, maybe the odd shoeing, but noone plays the game of rugby, or any sport for that matter, to lose their eyesight.
Thorn aint no angel, but a thug ? 1 lifting tackle is not enough to earn a reputation. Now if theyd picked on Troy Flavell or Jamie Joeseph or **** Loe then noone would be arguing.
20 Jan 2010, 04:15 am
@Black Panther:
waka waka waka, here we go again…….NZRFU squeeky clean again and the Saffa’s not. NZ had no option to give Loe the works cause it was on international TV for the world to see. No choice.
Bakkies was heresay, no visual evidence. Get over it!
Bakkies jou beauty ………
20 Jan 2010, 08:18 am
@Black Panther: I suppose you could just ask Bakkies himself, given his 8-week suspension in 2003 for “attacking the face” of Brendon Cannon which he later admitted in an interview with the Times (UK) was “for an eye-gouge”. Thru lack of evidence, he escaped the biting charge in the same Test (despite a rather graphic photo showing clear bite marks).
Show me this interview with the Times!!
20 Jan 2010, 08:57 am
Schalkie is a very lucky boy.
20 Jan 2010, 10:05 am
@whatever:
Plenty of visual evidence for Quinlan, Attoub, Parisse etc too. Oh and, of course, Burger. And we ALL remember how the Boks, SARU and especially PdV reacted to that dont we. And not forgetting an indignant population as well. All of them, too, had “a choice”. Atleast there were some individuals here who were man enough to recognise unacceptable filth when they saw it.
And hard to forget J.White arrogantly accusing the Worlds media that Bakkies had been fixed-up over Cannon. The photos of Cannon with scratch marks around his eyes and a bite mark on his shoulder were, presumably, doctored….
BTW – listing a few well-known NZ thugs seems a strange way of making a case for “squeaky clean”.
@Kea-Cat:
Given that anything coming from a non-Safa is immediately dismissed as a fallacy, then perhaps you should investigate yourself. It was, after all, only a few years ago so its strange that rugby fans should forget it so easily. I wonder why.
You appear to have use of a pc and the internet. Why dont you familiarise yourself with ‘Google’.
Rugby karma has a funny way of ensuring that the door that let perpetrators out the back door suddenly comes swinging back in their face when they least expect or want it.
20 Jan 2010, 10:22 am
Imagine the whining and paranoia if an SA player was given such a harsh sentence????? It would be pandamonium. Tears would be flowing along with posts about how the world is against SA.
20 Jan 2010, 10:42 am
@Black Panther: I have searched, can’t find it.
Anyway I see things still haven’t changed, still throwing the toys around.
20 Jan 2010, 10:43 am
@Delek: It all depends, if ones a Blue Bull supporter or not.
20 Jan 2010, 10:49 am
@Black Panther: Rugby is a tough game. If you dish out, you must be prepared to take it. I can’t recall that poor little Brendan stayed out of trouble himself. If I look at the state of Aussie Rugby (***, Drugs & Rock’nRoll) I wouldn’t put it past them doctoring picktures.
As for the AB’s, its probbably because of the Loe incident that they are such angels. Just look how good Zinzan & Robin Brook and Fitzpatrick was!
20 Jan 2010, 11:10 am
@Black Panther: 2003 thats when the incident happened.
John O’Neill, the Australian Rugby Union chief executive, claimed that Keohane’s report said Botha had admitted within the privacy of the Springboks camp biting an opponent.
I still can’t find Keo’s report.
I reckon John O’ Neill is clutching at straws.
20 Jan 2010, 12:18 pm
@Beast:
Maybe youre right. Cannon should have been the one banned for attacking Bakkies newly-manicured fingernails with his retina.
I like the way you summarised PdVs reaction to Burgers gouging tho as “Rugby is a tough game. If you dish out, you must be prepared to take it.” but, in fact, it was something more like:-
it was “part of sport”…..and just in case he didnt make it clear enough…..He said: “I don’t think it was a card at all.”
“For me and everybody, this is sport, this is what it is all about. This is great. We will see what the citing officer says and if there is no problem he will play again next week.”
“Why don’t we all go to the nearest ballet shop, get some nice tutus and get some great dancing going on. “.
and this was his version of an ‘apology’, one that he was FORCED to give only after outrage from IRB and, then reluctantly, SARU:-
“If we want to eye-gouge any Lions we will go down to the bushveld like we do and eye-gouge them there.”
No wonder there are people like you that hide behind statements like “rugby is s tough game”. Surely rugby is tough enough without idiots attacking your eyes ?!?
@Kea-Cat:
“Keos report” ?????????
oh
ha HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
Its like it never happened.
Youre right tho, things most certainly have “not changed”. The Gods of Rugby Karma will have their revenge and blame will be distributed accordingly.
20 Jan 2010, 12:31 pm
boring, repetitive.
on and on and on.
like a whining noise when you are settling down to sleep.
a mosquito.
20 Jan 2010, 15:21 pm
Mmmmm I was once eye gauged by some guy from down under, he then took my eye, licked it and snacked on it… now I just play rugby with my eye patch on it’s more fun
20 Jan 2010, 15:24 pm
@Icemoney :
It’s gouge you one eye’d dummy
20 Jan 2010, 18:15 pm
@Icemoney:
Simply disgusting, you poor bugger.
And to think there are imbeciles out there that queue up as apologists on the false premise of being bigger rugby ‘fans’ than those who campaign against it.
20 Jan 2010, 22:36 pm
@Black Panther: you are a bit of a fcking self rightous aren’t you?
seeing how the bakkies and cannon incident happened in 2003 and jake white only became coach in 2004?
but never mind, don’t let facts get in the way of your regular kiwi bullshit…
20 Jan 2010, 22:41 pm
Bakkkies ……….. jou lekker ding!
20 Jan 2010, 22:47 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl:
Hehe, he has been found out on numerous occasions to be a bullshit artist. Berating SA for thinking about playing the Pakistani cricketer but ignoring the fact that the Black Caps have played Grant Elliot, a born, bred and schooled Saffa.
21 Jan 2010, 02:26 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl:
if finding gouging absolutely appalling and outside acceptable ‘foul play’ is self-righteous, I plead guilty.
If you are somehow interpreting my opinion as saying ‘your filth…..we’re not’, that would hardly seem consistent with what I said about Kiwi players at 5 above.
Youre absolutely right about the coach, it was Straueli. But the quotes were accurate. Whats the difference ? PdVs comments were a few months ago, how attitudes have changed huh….
Do you think gouging is “part of the game” ?
@whatever:
Nothing like pulling things out of context hey, Little Man. Save your apple for the teacher.
22 Jan 2010, 03:35 am
@Black Panther:
Got another apple from your wife today……must be doing something right?
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