Eye-gouging is a serious offence in
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
where a player uses hands or fingers to inflict pain in an opponent's eyes. The game's laws refer to it as ''"contact with eyes or the eye area of an opponent"'' but such incidents are usually referred to as "
eye-gouging
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Eye-gouging is the act of pressing or tearing the eye using the fingers or instruments. Eye-gouging involves a very high risk of eye injury, such as eye loss or blindness.
Eye-gouging as a fighting style was once a popular form of ...
" among players and in the media.
Definition
The laws of rugby union, as written by
World Rugby
World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...
, define foul play as: "''Anything a player does within the playing enclosure that is against the letter and spirit of the Laws of the Game. It includes obstruction, unfair play, repeated infringements, dangerous play and misconduct which is prejudicial to the Game".'' Specifically, they state that ''"A player must not do anything that is dangerous to the opponent"''.
WR Regulations provide for punishment for contact with eyes or the eye area of an opponent.
Although this is usually called "
eye-gouging
__NOTOC__
Eye-gouging is the act of pressing or tearing the eye using the fingers or instruments. Eye-gouging involves a very high risk of eye injury, such as eye loss or blindness.
Eye-gouging as a fighting style was once a popular form of ...
" by the
media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...
, fans and players, the term "gouging" is not used in World Rugby's laws or regulations, which do list degrees of gravity of the offence. World Rugby themselves have used the term in a 2009 statement, when the body was known as the International Rugby Board (IRB): "The IRB are firmly of the view there is no place in rugby for illegal or foul play and the act of eye-gouging is particularly heinous".
Scales of the offence
Following two separate high-profile
test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to:
* Test cricket
* Test match (indoor cricket)
* Test match (rugby union)
* Test match (rugby league)
* Test match (association football)
...
incidents, involving
Schalk Burger
Schalk Willem Petrus Burger Jr. (born 13 April 1983) is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played as a flanker for Saracens in the English Premiership and has won 86 caps for South Africa.
He was a member of the 2007 Ru ...
and
Sergio Parisse
Sergio Francesco Parisse (; born 12 September 1983) is an Italian rugby union player. He currently plays for French club Toulon and played for the Italy national team from 2002 until the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Parisse is Italy's most-capped player ...
, during the same week in June 2009, the IRB stated that it would review the sanction structure for this type of offence "in order to send out the strongest possible message that such acts will not be tolerated".
The regulations provide a scale of seriousness.
As of the most recent revision to the regulations in 2016, separate scales are provided for "contact with the ''eyes''" and "contact with the ''eye area''", where the "eyes" are defined as all tissues within and covering the orbital cavity, including eyelids, and "eye area" covers areas outside the orbital cavity but in close proximity to the eye.
;Contact with the eyes
* Lower end: up to 12-week ban.
* Mid range: up to 18-week ban.
* Top end: greater than 24-week ban.
;Contact with the eye area
* Lower end: up to 4-week ban.
* Mid range: up to 8-week ban.
* Top end: greater than 12-week ban.
The maximum sanction for either is a 156-week (3 year) ban.
In
sevens, bans are officially expressed in numbers of matches instead of weeks, reflecting the schedule of the Sevens World Series for
men
A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chrom ...
and
women
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
, as well as other major events for sevens teams.
History
In the early days of rugby, eye gouging was commonplace and happened mainly in the
scrum
Scrum may refer to:
Sport
* Scrum (rugby), a method of restarting play in rugby union and rugby league
** Scrum (rugby union), scrum in rugby union
* Scrum, an offensive melee formation in Japanese game Bo-taoshi
Media and popular culture
* M ...
due to a lack of control by
referees
A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...
and the opportunity the scrum offered for players to commit foul play due to the way the scrum is formed.
The rising amount of foul play involving eye gouging eventually lead to the founding of the
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...
to control rugby and to reduce the amount of foul play.
Eye-gouging then began to disappear from the early game as the laws of rugby became stricter due to English
public school
Public school may refer to:
* State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government
* Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
students starting to play rugby. After then foul play including eye-gouging became largely unspoken of and rugby authorities often ignored complaints of eye-gouging. This was due to authorities expecting players to deal with it themselves as it was claimed to be part of the nature of the game and was often viewed as a joke.
In 1992,
Richard Loe made contact with
Greg Cooper
Gregory John Luke Cooper (born 10 June 1965) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A fullback, Cooper represented Hawke's Bay, Otago and Auckland at a provincial level and the in Super Rugby. He was a member of the New Zealand national ...
's eyes while playing in the
National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to:
* National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides
* National Provincial Championship (2006–present)
The National Provincial Championship, o ...
and was banned for nine months after a nine-hour deliberation by the
New Zealand Rugby Union
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...
's judicial committee.
This was viewed by observers as a turning point in attitudes towards eye-gouging and punishments for eye-gouging became stricter.
According to John Daniell, a New Zealand
lock
Lock(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
*Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance
*Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lock ...
who played for nearly a decade in France, eye gouging is fairly common and considered "a way of life" in French rugby, where it is known as "la fourchette".
Sanctions for eye-gouging have been subject to debate by journalists and commentators, depending on interpretation by presiding disciplinary officers.
Punishments in the Northern Hemisphere are seen by some journalists as being harsher than those for similar offenses seen in Southern Hemisphere countries.
South African national coach,
Peter de Villiers
Peter de Villiers (born 3 June 1957) is a South African professional rugby union coach and Good Party politician. He was coach of the South Africa national rugby union team from 2008 to 2011, after successes with the South African U19 and U21 ...
stated he did not believe that an eye-gouging incident for which Schalk Burger was yellow carded merited any punishment.
Examples
As well as many cases involving professional rugby union, the case of Clarence Harding, an amateur player, has received considerable coverage due to the extreme damage caused to his eye.
Harding was left without sight in his right eye and can no longer play rugby, and the injury has affected his livelihood and has since had the eye removed due to the pain. Matt Iles, the player alleged to have injured Harding, was found not guilty by the
RFU
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby (WR) in 1886. It pro ...
as they could not determine which player was responsible. However,
Maidstone RFC
Maidstone Rugby Club is an English rugby union club based in Maidstone, Kent. The men's first XV currently compete in Counties 2 - a league at the eighth tier of the English rugby union system following the club's relegation from London 2 South ...
were fined
£2,000 and deducted 50 points after being found "guilty of conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game". The incident was also investigated by
Kent Police
Kent Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the and approximately 1.8 million inhabitants of Kent, a county in the south east of England.
History
On 14 January 1857, a 222-strong 'Kent County Constabulary' was formed u ...
but no criminal charges were brought against Maidstone or Iles due to insufficient evidence.
On 2 October 2010,
Gavin Quinnell
Gavin Quinnell (born 25 November 1983 in Llanelli, Wales) is a former Welsh rugby union player. His career was ended as a result of an eye gouge in a Welsh premiership game. He played for several teams in England, Wales and Italy but finished hi ...
suffered an eye injury during a game between
Llanelli
Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. ...
and
Cross Keys Cross Keys or Crosskeys may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Crosskeys, Wales
** Crosskeys railway station
** Crosskeys College, a campus of Coleg Gwent
* Crosskeys Bridge, a swing bridge in Lincolnshire, England
* The Cross Keys (disambiguatio ...
, from which he lost the sight in his left eye. The incident was under investigation by the
Welsh Rugby Union
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby.
The WRU is responsible for the running ...
and
Gwent Police
Gwent Police ( cy, Heddlu Gwent) is a territorial police force in Wales, responsible for policing the local authority areas of Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen.
The force was formed in 1967 by the amalgamation o ...
, with the police arresting the perpetrator. However, the
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...
advised against prosecution, leading to the dropping of criminal charges, and the WRU eventually dropped its citing complaint, to the self-described shock of the Quinnell family, one of the most prominent in Welsh rugby.
An incident in the
Rugby World Cup Final
The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition established in 1987. It is contested by the List of rugby union playing countries, men's national teams of the member unions of the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and takes plac ...
on 23 October 2011 led the IRB to reevaluate its disciplinary procedures.
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
centre
Aurélien Rougerie
Aurélien Rougerie (born 26 September 1980) is a French former rugby union player who played on the wing and center for France and ASM Clermont Auvergne in the French Top 14 for his entire 19-year career.
Career
Rougerie was born in Beaumont, ...
apparently made contact with the eyes of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
captain
Richie McCaw
Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugby ...
, who would later state that he had been "half-blinded" for the last few minutes of the match. The original camera angles provided by host broadcaster Sky NZ showed no apparent foul play, and Rougerie was not cited within the 36-hour window allowed by IRB rules at the time. Three days after the match, new Sky NZ footage emerged which showed Rougerie apparently raking his hand across McCaw's eyes. The IRB could not cite Rougerie outside the 36-hour window, and the exception allowed in its rules for "exceptional circumstances" did not include the emergence of new evidence. In December 2011 the IRB announced that it would reconsider its procedures to address similar situations in the future.
High-profile cases
This is a list of cases where eye-gouging has been reported to have happened in top national league,
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
or international level rugby union matches. It is shown in chronological order; international matches are highlighted. Players banned for ''contact with eyes or the eye area of an opponent'' as well as ''eye-gouging'' are included.
See also
*
Eye-gouging (Gaelic football)
Notes
# Prior to the announcement of the
RFU's nine-week ban on 11 April 2011, Cueto had received a six-week ban from his club. The bans ultimately ran concurrently.
# Dickson's ban was officially announced as nine matches; the
NZRU chose not to appeal. This covered the final of the
2014 USA Sevens
The 2014 USA Sevens (also sometimes referred to as the 2014 Las Vegas Sevens) was the eleventh edition of the USA Sevens tournament, and the fifth tournament of the 2013–14 IRB Sevens World Series. The tournament was held January 24–26, 2014 ...
and the entirety of the
2014 Wellington Sevens
The 2014 Wellington Sevens was the 15th edition of the tournament as part of the 2013–14 IRB Sevens World Series. It was hosted in Wellington, New Zealand, at the Westpac Stadium.
Format
The teams were divided into pools of four teams, who play ...
; he will be available for the 2014 Japan Sevens.
References
External links
International Rugby Board – Laws of the Game 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eye-Gouging (Rugby Union)
Rugby union terminology
Rugby union-related lists
Rugby union controversies
Violence in sports
Human eye