Rugby player who beat partner, a ‘great human’

[JessicaWakefieldSVH]

This case has enraged me from the beginning. There are other articles I can link to, but the comments today as he is selected to start for the best club in the world, by the head coach Scott ‘Razor’ Robertson ( likely next All Black coach ) have shocked me. Note, he did NOT have this contract or any other in NZ before he beat his partner. He had an Irish club contract, dropped when this came to light. He was rewarded with a better contract. He is also not a New Zealander, he’s Fijian and only there 4 years.

Scott Robertson refers to a man who beat his gf in the street, as ‘a great human’.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=12210571

I notice that NZ Rugby have changed their complaint process since I first complained about Sevu last year. I just made another anyway, about using the word cunt on a public social media account.

Ok took a while to write the complaint mainly cos I know sod all about rugby. But in the end I just kept to what the coach said. Will now do another short one for the cuuuunt thing.

Thank you so much. That’s exactly what I think the focus should be, as they won’t suddenly drop him, they could at least use language and words that convey clearly they do not accept this behaviour. I am so disappoint in Scott Robertson. I thought maybe he would be different since he’s quite unusual for a kiwi coach, a surfer dude who breakdances on the field if they win. But alas, he’s just another wanker who cares about nothing but winning. To read that the crowd voted for Reece to get man of the match and cheered him enthusiastically... so disappointing.

The response to my complaint re Scott Robertson’s press conference and language, ‘ he’s a great human’, was responded to below. She makes no reference to my actual complaint. The link she supplied is to a programme I discussed with her already! The man mentioned, Craig Calder is the CEO of Canterbury Rugby and referred to a death of a man who terrorised his family with a rifle and ran over a police officer nearly killing him, which is why he was shot by the other officer, as a ‘tragic loss to the Canterbury rugby family’ with no mention of any of his victims.

Thank you for providing your thoughts.

We do not condone violence.

Sevu has admitted his mistakes and as part of the agreement for his continued involvement in NZ Rugby we required him to undertake a suite of programmes designed to address some personal issues. He continues to work on these programmes and we also continue our work in the wider rugby community to improve and support our people with regards family violence - I hope this article below (which is one of many) will provide you with the positive progress we are making in our game as well.

www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018679737/regional-rugby-boss-leads-campaign-against-family-violence

I have told her I will no longer correspond with NZR as our lengthy phonecall was clearly a waste of my time since coaches continue to behave inappropriately. She previously asked me to keep in touch. What the fuck is the point?

• Canterbury rugby also had issues with racism fairly recently.

Their employment lawyer contacted me about my complaint re his use of the c word and it was deleted, just the comment, a few hours later.

At least he knows people are watching him and expect more.

Just RTFT. What about a twitter page/campaign where all the public information is tweeted there. Nothing that's libellous, but what's already out there. So the case from England wasn't really known about here, but on a tweet with a link to the article is easy to retweet.

Apart from Ulster I'd never heard about these events. I grew up watching RU and there was always smugness about how rugby players are gentlemen off the pitch, unlike football (soccer) players. Makes me sick to think the big blokes I'd fancied as a teenager/young adult used their incredible strength against women. And the sick, greedy fuckers who "see remorse in their eyes". No they fucking don't. It's called "fear of not being selected" or "I'll show you whatever you want if you select me".

IamThereforeIdontIdentify

I couldn’t agree with your comments more. It is horrible to think I watched super rugby last year and now learn many of them had name suppression over incidents of violence.

I’m not on twitter and I don’t want to rejoin. But I’d love it if someone else created a specific rugby players exposed account and I could supply details here. I have so many links from researching before my conversation with NZ rugby.

Danny Cipriani hit a female police Officer recently and all he got was a fine. A member of the public punched a footballer and got 14 weeks in jail.

Julian Savea was an All Black who didn’t miss a single game after being let off a DV incident
nzfvc.org.nz/news/rugby-partner-violence-and-professional-sports-bodies-julian-savea-charged-assault

In 2016 Chiefs rugby players got away with assaulting a stripper. The public response was pretty much, who can trust a stripper? She got what she deserved:
thestandard.org.nz/nz-home-of-rugby-raping-and-beer/

Oh it just gets worse. Now this ‘journalist’ thinks its great they’ve included him. This guy, for context, goes on and on about concussion in rugby and is always attacking NZ players for being too rough and purposefully dangerous. Yet here he is not giving a fuck about a woman beaten on the street by a man. Respect? Just more excuses. I’m tempted to log in and comment although it is probably pointless. This after the horrific violence in NZ, just unbelievable.

i.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/111299724/mark-reason-respect-to-new-zealand-rugby-for-including-sevu-reece

Ploughed my way through that badly-written article (Clockwork Orange...wtf) and at the end thought
FUCKING DIDDUMS.

powershowerforanhour thank god I’m not the only one that thought that! And that he is an atrocious writer- his rugby ‘articles’ are really crap, like he doesn’t remotely understand the game. He’s a clickbait type of writer. This was spectacularly bad.

Is the rugby player's partner still with him ?

On a separate note I was so disappointed with Rory Best - Irish rugby captain for attending the Belfast Rape Trial. Whether true or not it looked like he was condoning the awful behaviour of the men on trial. I believe Rory Best to be a family man, with young children and was shocked he attended. There was some mention that he had to attend- Why ?
My little protest was I did not clap for him when he entered the stadium. Teeny tiny protest I know.

Yes she is and that has been used to minimise it as well. It’s also a lot of pressure for her to forgive if everyone around him is excusing it. My mum forgave my Dad, I did too... sadly a life was lost because we all legitimised him.

Rory Best makes me so angry. Firstly, he wasn’t a witness so he cannot be compelled to attend simply because he may or may not be giving a written character reference. He was asked to, on the first day of that poor girls testimony, to intimidate. I don’t believe there can be any other reason. He said he wanted to hear it first hand. He has since said he hopes the message his kids learn from it, is to be a good friend and believe a friend if they say they did nothing wrong. That’s disgraceful. I haven’t watched an Irish game since, not even the all black one. Since Sevu Reece, I haven’t watched at all, anything.