Haskell criticises Cipriani's 'trial by social media'
James Haskell has urged people to move on from Danny Cipriani’s conviction for common assault and resisting arrest in Jersey last week. His former Wasps teammate attended a Rugby Football Union (RFU) disciplinary hearing on Wednesday where he was found guilty of “conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game”, but escaped a ban and was given a warning over his future conduct.
Haskell says the furore around the incident has highlighted why players must remain “whiter than whiter” when socialising in public.
Gloucester and The Rugby Players’ Association had both been critical of the RFU’s decision to proceed with an RFU hearing Cipriani. The fly-half was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay a female police officer £250 by Jersey Magistrates’ Court, and subsequently docked an identical amount and instructed to complete 10 hours of community service following an internal investigation by his club.
But in the lead-up to the RFU hearing Haskell stopped short of criticising the union, but agreed that column inches and social media noise had prolonged the episode. “All these people who charge people are far better placed than me (to decide),” he said.
“If you do something – I make more mistakes than most, and have had my experiences with it – you have to deal with the consequences of it. But it is best to move on as there is a lot more to life than Danny Cipriani.
“I have spoken to him and he is good and looking forward to playing and I have been very impressed with how supportive Gloucester have been. It is unfortunate that when you have a profile, everything is times one million.”
Haskell believes that, much like the reaction to England cricketer Ben Stokes’ affray trial, outrage was stirred on social media by commentators, ex-players and fans who did not have the full facts.
“It’s just the oldest case of trial by social media,” he said. “Professional sport brings out the best and worst of people. We go mad at people chasing and hitting balls and get fired up about it and people put so much into it – Stokes was a great example – people were ready to throw him under the bus and it was the same with Danny.
“People love to hate him, but I know him as a good hard-woking guy and it is time to move on. It was time to move on an hour after the court case – but a few ex players and coaches threw him under the bus for easy headlines.”
However, while he is keen for rugby to move on from the Cipriani incident, Haskell does believe that players need to understand that they are under increased scrutiny due to the prevalence of social media.
“I think you’ve just got to understand that we live in a world now of the stitch-up, we live in the world of the easy win, we live in the world that everyone’s a paparazzi, everyone’s recording everything,” he said.
“You’ve just got to be whiter than white and don’t put yourself in those positions. But also, like Tiger Woods, don’t sell yourself as the perfect man because all you’ve got is a longer way to fall.
“Best just to be reasonably honest, because if you pretend to be something you’re not you’re going to be swiftly caught out.”
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Haskell added: “You’ve got a responsibility as a player to understand that people look up to you
“You’ve got the responsibility to do things, and I just think that everyone wants to catch you out now. That’s what I believe, and I think you have to be very concerned about how you conduct yourself in public, where you would go, what you would do.
“I’m a nobody, so God knows what actual famous people have to think about.”
The England flanker is an avid user of social media, but admitted he is cautious not to post anything that may show him with alcohol, especially during the season.
Haskell also revealed that he and fiancee, Chloe Madeley, have been joined by uninvited guests when out for dinner, while one over-zealous fan pushed him close to the edge at a university DJ gig when he refused to let go of his hand after shaking it.
“I try to be quite accommodating because we’re very privileged to have a situation where people actually want to have a photo with you,” he said. “But some people get a little bit carried away and grab you and push you and tap you and poke you and stuff, and you’re like ‘could you please not do that?’”
Northampton face Gloucester on the opening weekend of the Gallagher Premiership season, and with Cipriani and South African imports including Jaco Kriel and Franco Mostert on board, Haskell has been impressed with the Cherry and Whites’ recruitment.
“I think they’re having a re-birth,” he said. “They’ve signed a lot of quality players, they’re going to want to bring that physical edge, certainly with the South Africans involved and Danny pulling the strings in attack and the other good players that they’ve got.
“They are going to be dangerous, but tell me a team that isn’t looking dangerous.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments