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Gloucester respond to complaints over Russian flag
By Jon Newcombe
Gloucester Rugby have removed international flags from capped players' shirts moving forward following complaints from some fans and the Ukranian community.
The Gallagher Premiership club received criticism for printing the Russian flag on the back of Kirill Gotovtsev's shirt in contravention of the country’s widespread ostracism from international sport.
Since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been banned from multiple global sporting competitions and hasn't played Test rugby for nearly three years.
The 37-year-old Russian international, who has made 15 appearances for his country, was spotted wearing the offending shirt during the Cherry & Whites' 36-20 win over Sale Sharks last weekend.
An X user posted: “As a @?gloucesterrugby supporter & grandson of Ukrainians I find it wrong that Gotovtsev is allowed to wear a Russian flag on his shirt, especially in a city that has a prominent Ukrainian community very poor.”
RugbyPass has seen a response from the club to one of the complainants, which confirmed the policy of putting the flags of capped players on their jerseys has been in place since 2021 when Gotovtsev signed for the club.
The email went on to say. "We recognise the understandable sensitivity in this particular case and, as a result, we have removed international flags from capped Gloucester player's shirts moving forward. It is never our intention to cause any upset to our community and we apologise if that has been the case in this situation."
In addition to Gotovtsev, Gloucester's starting XV against the Sharks included eight other internationals, with the flags of Wales (Freddie Thomas, Tomos Williams, Gareth Anscombe, Max Llewellyn and Josh Hathaway), Argentina (Mayco Vivas and Santi Carreras) and Chris Harris (Scotland) also on show.
Quite what those players and the club's other internationals make about the decision to remove national flags from their shirts remains to be seen.
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Latest Comments
But he chose rightly or wrongly to play for Tonga. If he wanted to play for the ABs why didn’t he hold off?
Go to comments“A succession of recent ex-players going straight back into the game as coaches in their early 40’s would prob be enough to kill it stone-dead. Innovation would die a death.”
Would it? I do think one of the major differences between rugby and most other sports - which we’ve been overlooking - is the degree to which players are expected to lead team meetings & analysis sessions and the like. Someone like Owen Farrell has basically been an assistant coach already for ten years - and he’s been so under a variety of different head coaches with different expectations and playing styles.
“The most interesting ppl I have met in the game have all coached well into their sixties and they value the time and opportunity they have had to reflect and therefore innovate in the game. That’s based on their ability to compare and contrast between multiple eras.”
I don’t doubt that that’s true. But having interesting insights doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be the best able to inspire a team, or the best at managing the backroom staff.
“Wayne Smith winning the WWC in his mid sixties three years ago prob means nothing to you but it meant a lot to him. It took him back to the roots of is own coaching journey.”
I don’t doubt that! But I don’t think coaches should be hired on the basis that it means a lot to them.
“The likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Wayne Bennett and Andy Reid all have a tale to tell. You should open your ears and listen to it!”
I agree! Never have I ever suggested otherwise!
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