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Forget the schadenfreude, Howley's gambling woes are nothing to laugh about

By Owain Jones
Rob Howley

The news that Rob Howley has been hit with an 18-month ban from the sport for betting on rugby union has been met with a mixture of derision and suspicion but the overriding feeling has been a more human emotion; sadness.

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Time has helped – he returned home from the World Cup on September 17 – and there’s little doubt the verdict would have been more pointed had Wales bombed at the World Cup and a blame game ensued, but a creditable semi-final appearance and his successor being the hugely popular Stephen Jones, has softened the lens with which Howley has been judged by the public gallery.

In pure rugby terms, Howley is widely respected in Wales, but not loved. His coaching tactics with Wales, after a wildly-successful near 12-year stint, were often derided for their lack of wit, invention and flair but professional opprobrium pales into insignificance when compared with the personal shame he felt letting down his work colleagues, players and the nation he represented with distinction on 59 occasions.

A former Welsh captain, the potential damage done to those he holds dear would have left him feeling deeply remorseful.

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Of course, there will be schadenfreude from certain quarters at this public humiliation. While widely admired for his achievements, he has crossed swords with a number of players over the years, many hurt from his idiosyncratic style of man-management. Lee Byrne put his head above the parapet accusing him of bullying in his autobiography when the two fell out over the latter’s non-selection for Wales. For Howley, adoration from his players came a distant second to silverware.

A perfectionist, with a ferocious will-to-win, Howley the coach did things his own way and he was backed to the hilt by Warren Gatland, a close friend, and someone not known to suffer fools gladly. Gatland admired Howley’s steely determination, one which made him one the most decorated individuals in the game with three Grand Slams, four Six Nations titles, a Lions Series, two Premiership titles and a Heineken Cup.

Winning on the field of play was his addiction but as this cautionary tale tells us, the desire to beat the odds against a fearsome opponent didn’t cease outside the whitewash.

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Rob Howley
Rob Howley will spend 9 months out of rugby

Away from the bright lights, Howley endured family tragedy, when his sister Karen passed away after a long-battle with alcoholism in 2011, and in the lengthy 41-point WRU report, this was said to be a trigger for Howley’s desire to place bets. Howley himself was said to describe his betting as a ‘hobby’, one indulged in for recreational purposes but the report said this word should be treated with caution, such were the risks. For many people, gambling is no harmless whimsy, it’s an addiction that can spiral out of control.

Indeed, Howley’s hobby has caused him irreparable damage to his reputation and the resulting ramifications have caused him considerable anxiety and stress and by proxy concern over the effect this sorry episode was having on his wife and daughters. This is not to be underestimated.

Wales is often described as a ‘goldfish bowl’, and his hometown of Bridgend is one of its epicentres. A town of 35,000, it has produced the likes of JPR Williams, Gavin Henson, Lee Byrne, Rhys Webb, Scott Gibbs and Gareth Thomas. It is somewhere he would struggle to meld casually into the background. Every visit to the shop, pub or restaurant in recent months would have been met with rubber-necking and whispered voices and this will not abate any time soon. It will lead to speculation as to whether coaching abroad will offer easy sanctuary when his suspension is lifted next June.

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His charge sheet doesn’t make for easy reading. He lost in the region of £4,000 and of the 363 bets over a four-year period, 24 were on ‘connected events’ with Wales participating. Two bets were placed on two individuals representing Wales, both of whom had to be interviewed by authorities. Crucially, Howley admitted he knew his actions had flouted Regulation 6, World Rugby’s Anti-corruption and Betting Regulations. In legal parlance he was guilty of the mens rea and actus reus, literally, guilty thoughts and actions. In common man’s parlance, ‘it’s a fair cop, guv, I’m bang to rights’, which may have helped his case in mitigation, as his punishment was decreed.

Howley
Rob Howley and Warren Gatland

This high-profile case will undoubtedly draw into sharper focus the relationship between sports stars and gambling. Take football. It is saturated with gambling advertising.

Half of the 20 Premier League clubs have their shirts sponsored by betting firms, thus recouping £69m in revenue, and its adverts adorn the advertising hoardings and populate the club websites. In the Championship, it’s even more widespread with 17 out of 24 sides, as betting risks becoming normalised.

Day-to-day, you’ll struggle to go a few days without seeing a professional athlete plugging a piece of social content, sponsored by betting companies. Are the government’s regulatory body, the Gambling Commission doing enough? Is the slogan ‘when the fun stops, stop’, really going to lead to an addict dutifully hang up his dice? Betting has changed irrevocably.

In Howley’s case, he only had to dutifully hand in his company laptop and mobile phone for evidence of his wrongdoing. Gone are the days where you would have to slip surreptitiously into a slightly down-at-heel high-street bookies, averting the gaze of fellow gamblers. You can now speculate to accumulate on any electronic device 24/7.

Howley
Warren Gatland and Rob Howley on Lions duty

There have been isolated cases before in rugby, Leicester’s former defence coach Philip Blake was suspended for betting on the Tigers in 2015 and Matt Hart, Maro Itoje’s former agent, was last year suspended for 22 months for breaching betting regulations but with rugby union soon to be awash with £650m of CVC venture capitalist lucre, you can be assured that where vast sums of money go, the gambling firms will follow and temptation will increase.

On a personal level, while Warren Gatland, and members of the WRU hierarchy have dealt with a very sensitive situation with tact and empathy, you would hope that Howley is receiving the after-care that he deserves as a long-time employee. He is said to be receiving help from a consultant psychologist but as those affected will know, there is no sticky plaster for addiction, it will be a lifelong battle. What help can the WRPA (Welsh Rugby Players Association) offer him, and what other avenues there are for players, coaches and support staff to seek if they are affected by what is a societal problem? The Sporting Chance clinic, founded by former England and Arsenal captain, Tony Adams is one such place for recovering addicts to exhume their inner demons, but should the game’s governing bodies being doing more to raise awareness?

While the wider rugby public now know about his recreational predilections, only Howley will know whether his ‘hobby’ is under control but what is beyond doubt that it has blighted a hitherto stellar career. How seriously, only time will tell.

In society, second chances are to be applauded, and personally, I wish him luck in rebuilding his career.

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Jon 24 minutes ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 3 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 7 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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