1
Japan's Top League suspended for three weeks after drug arrest
By Josh Raisey
Japan Rugby has suspended the Top League for three weeks following the arrest of a Hino Red Dolphins player for drug use.
This follows a two week hiatus that the league has had due to the coronavirus outbreak, and Japan Rugby have announced that “the league will undergo a full investigation and aims to restore the public's faith in rugby's core values."
The player in question is reported to be Kiwi Joel Everson for alleged cocaine use, and a statement released by the league said that there will now be a process of education.
“Recently, a Hino Red Dolphins player was arrested for allegedly using illegal drugs, and Hino Red Dolphins has decided to refrain from conducting any further activities indefinitely. Based on that, the Japan Rugby Top League is currently holding the Japan Rugby Top League 2020,” the statement read.
"We sincerely apologise to all rugby fans across Japan for the disappointment.
“The fact that there have been arrests for illegal drug use across multiple teams is not only a Top League problem, but also a major problem shaking the existence of the Japanese rugby world, and it is considered an emergency.
“We have worked together with all the Top League teams to prevent recurrence, including assigning integrity officers to each team, but we have to say that was insufficient," the statement continued.
“We believe that we have betrayed our fans and society, and we need to work diligently to restore trust, and we need to take even more advanced measures.
“Rugby competition consists of five core values: dignity, passion, unity, discipline, and respect. If any one of these is missing, it’s not rugby. This incident conflicts with most of the core values and in order to become a league worthy of the name of Japan’s peak, we will again pursue improvement in each team’s integrity before we resume Top League 2020.”
This is not the first time that such an incident has occurred in rugby, but this extreme response is one that has not been seen in the modern era, and shows the integrity that Japanese rugby has.
Watch: Eddie Jones to discuss England future with RFU.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
All Blacks XV player ratings vs Munster
3
Suaalii strikes awe as Wallabies lose midfielder
4
Scott Robertson responds about handling errors
5
Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
Go to comments