'Zimbabwe started complaining as soon as they arrived' - Tunisia hit back at Peter de Villiers 'rough sleepers'
The Tunisia Rugby Federation has launched an astonishing defence after the Zimbabwe squad slept rough on the streets of Beja on Monday night.
Zimbabwe are in the country for a World Cup qualifier and Rugby Africa and Tunisia originally apologised for the situation.
There was however uproar online after pictures of the team sleeping rough on the streets of Tunisian went viral across social media, including Zimbawean Springbok Brian Mujati.
Zimbabwe national rugby team forced to sleep on the streets of Tunisia… @WorldRugby 👀 pic.twitter.com/MGcug87P0l
— Brian Mujati (@MujatiBrewing) July 3, 2018
Rugby Africa issued the following apology, “We would like to reassure the Zimbabwean Ministry of Sports, Zimbabwe Rugby Union, and all partners and fans that the situation was addressed immediately, and an acceptable solution has been found this morning. Tunisia Rugby Union took the Sables management to visit another hotel which was accepted.
“Rugby Africa and Tunisia Rugby Union would like to express their sincere apologies to the Sables team and management for this unfortunate situation. This does not reflect the standards of the Rugby Africa Gold Cup competition and we sincerely regret any prejudice caused.”
After initially apologising, Tunisia have now hit back at the Peter de Villiers fronted Zimbabwe, saying that the rough sleeping was not due to the lack of a hotel, but rather the Zimbabweans causing a fuss.
A lengthy and detailed statement reads:
“For the organization of this event, a commission has been appointed to ensure the smooth running of this sporting event. After several visits to the meeting places and accommodation sites, after various meetings with local authorities (Governor, Mayor, Regional Commissioner for Sports …) and after study of the tournament manual and specifications, Hotel ALADINO was chosen as the accommodation of the Zimbabwe team. The hotel is near the stadium where the match will take place and meets the criteria of the specifications (a 2-star hotel and approved by the Ministry of Tourism).”
They also produced photographs of the hotel in question.
“It is important to note that the delegation of Zimbabwe started the scandals as soon as it arrived on 02/07/2018 at 12.00 at Tunis Carthage airport. Indeed, the team manager refused to pay the entry visa fees on Tunisian territories (60 dinars per person) on the pretext that he did not have the amount requested knowing that the Tunisian federation had previously notified Rugby Africa by letter dated 08/06/2018, informing them of all these procedures that go beyond the federation’s prerogatives and that Rugby Africa had notified the Zimbabwean Federation of visa fees. Nevertheless, the team manager persisted in not paying these fees, which caused a long wait for the members of the delegation and a delay of more than four hours.
“It was necessary to contact the director of Rugby Africa who spoke by telephone with the team manager of Zimbabwe who subsequently agreed to pay the invoice of the visa fees. It is important to note that these visa procedures are common between several African countries.
“The delegation left the airport at around 4pm, leaving all the passports behind for customs officers to finalise the procedure and in order to avoid further delays. A member of Tunisia Rugby Union collected all the passports later on the same evening and returned them all to the Zimbabwean delegation.”
“After a lunch offered by the Tunisian Federation to its guests, an air-conditioned bus transfer of members of the Zimbabwe delegation to the city of Béjà was ensured. Arrived at the hotel around 20:00, the check-in and the formalities of reception made, all the members of the delegation of Zimbabwe were entitled to a dinner, until then no problem was reported.
It says the crux of the Zimabwean upset was one bathroom, slow internet and the apparent lack of a swimming pool.
“Around 23:00, the Zimbabwean team manager expressed reservations about the state of the bathroom in one of the rooms, the lack of a pool and the low internet speed. So, he started talking about leaving the hotel on the pretext that he is not decent.
“The quick intervention of the president and three members of the organizing committee was not enough to calm him down and convince him to spend the rest of the night at the hotel, ensuring that he found solutions the next morning with the possibility to change hotels. Alas, he asked all the members of the delegation to take out their luggage, leave the hotel and spend the night outside on the ground. Unfortunately, local officials have tried with this head of delegation but without issues.
“At 6:30 in the morning; and after the efforts and interventions of the organizing committee and members of the Tunisian federation, the Zimbabwe team was transferred to the ALRAWABI hotel in Nefza ( facebook.com/pg/hotel.alrawabi ) where they issued their satisfaction with an apology to the president of the organizing commission.
“However, the Tunisian Rugby Federation expresses its deep regret for all that has happened and strongly deplores the anti-sports and anti-ethical actions of the Zimbabwean delegation which do not reflect the strong ties of friendship between the two countries.
“It confirms through this communiqué that Tunisia is, and will always be, a country of hospitality and hospitality, something that it has always proved and that will do and will make its pride.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“upon leaving said establishment I tripped over a stool knocking some bottles into the air and as I fell I accidently dislodged a police officer’s teaser who was passing by on an unrelated matter there by landing on said taser which caused it to discharge 50,000 watts into me. Out of shock I shouted Ireland are going to win the world cup. Upon waking up I apologised for the distress caused by my Ireland comment. The matter is closed. If you wish to pursue this matter may I remind you what I told Wayne Barnes when he sent me off. I AM A BIG ASS MAN”. Or was it “I AM A BIG ASS, MAN” or was it “I AM A BIG ASSMAN”?
1 Go to commentsThe only championship the Boks hold are: Great value for the incompetence of referees during the RWC Moaning endlessly and champions of spewing utterly ignorant 💩 at all times. Displaying the dangers of a third world education End of.
26 Go to commentsSouth Africa and Rassie do a phenomenal job of treating the 4 years in between World Cups as nothing more than a training exercise to build squad depth. The Six Nations money that keeps Irish rugby afloat is unfortunately too important to allow the same approach, and basic population size means we'll never get close to matching the depth of South Africa, England and France. That being said, Irish rugby is in a relatively good place and slowly improving inch by inch. If the other three provinces can pull the finger out and actually develop some players it'd be even better.
26 Go to commentsGood on Clarke for taking on the criticism and addressing his deficiencies, principally his laziness.
2 Go to comments“It is the people’s favourite against the actual favourite. It is the people’s champions against the actual champions. I’m joking, but it’s going to be a fantastic series.” Why did Darcy make that joke knowing it would be used as click bait? Why did RP headline it as a serious comment? Anyway, the tired comment isn’t very astute. SA players may have played more games etc. Darcy over estimated as a pundit.
26 Go to commentsNot sure Frisch will ever make the French team with Depoortère and Costes waiting in the wings to take over from Danty and Fickou.
1 Go to commentsThe Irish are tired and the Boks are old. The test series won't confirm who is best in the world, it will confirm which team needs to pursue the task of rebuilding with the most urgency.
26 Go to commentsGrant, the first time I have seen an article written by you. Maybe I have missed your previous stuff. These days all professional players effectively play a common season so all top players are equally tired, or rested. That is the job of the coaching ticket to build squad depth and juggle resources so players are ‘ fresh’ when the big games come. Possibly Ireland are less inclined to juggle squad compared to Rassie, who is prepared to take the risk to rest players as well as build depth throughout the year so come WC he has a full squad, experienced and rested enough to win 7 games. After all, to win WC you need to get through the tournament and then win the final big 3 games. Ireland should try and build a bit so come final 3 they are ready. So far only played final 1(QF). I am so looking forward to the Irish tour. Hopefully Rassie has enough time to align his guys, as he draws them from across the globe, and not from 2 sides locally( eg Leinster, Munster). No excuses, going to be exciting.
26 Go to commentsIn football, teams get fined and sometimes docked points for deliberately fielding weakened teams yet Leinster can pretty much do as they please with no comebacks. Could it be because Ireland run the URC? Could it be that Ireland run the ERC? Whichever it is, it stinks!!
6 Go to commentsIreland are only the People’s Champions in Irish eyes. The rest of the world do not care for them very much because of attitudes of people like Gordon, Ferris, Best, Jackman…I could go on!!
26 Go to commentsNot sure how Karl Dickson can ever ref a Quins game, he played for the club for 8 years as understudy to Care and is still close friends with half the team
3 Go to commentsAre bookies taking bets on how many times Vunipola's eventual statement will use the term “elders"? My money is on at least 4 times.
4 Go to commentsSo Ireland will be tired, despite having the most rested test squad in the world. They only play tests, champions cup and urc play off games ffs! Case in point; Leinster sent a B squad to SA for their last two games while their first xv rested up and trained at their leisure for the sf vs Saints at the so called ‘neutral venue’ of Croke Park. So tired? Do me a favour… And as for “people’s champions”? Seriously??? Outside of Ireland they are respected for their ability to win 6N. And of course plenty of inconsequential test friendlies without any real pressure. WC ko games when the pressure is white hot? Not so much…
26 Go to commentsSurprising how standing down or benching a player can do wonders for their motivation. Several players this week in that category.
2 Go to commentsHaha lads lads lads, that’s how you have a holiday In Majorca
4 Go to commentshit on Lynagh was defo late and card-worthy. The other 2 are bang on OK. Hurts you at Test level if youre timing is off and the nostrils are flared. Jerry C knew when to lean in on one, Finau just needs to keep his discipline and head straight.
7 Go to commentsSlade was exceptional against Gloucester. Not only was he doing the classic Slade stuff of running amazing lines and timing passes to perfection to put his wingers into space, he was kicking goals, flying off the line smashing people and crashing into rucks like a flanker… his hair even looked on point. 😍
1 Go to commentsThat’s really sad, hope everyone involved is ok. At least he had pants on.
4 Go to commentsTo be fair it was nowhere bear the Leinster first team (for which, btw, Leinster copped nothing like the outrage that Jake White did for sending a rotated team to the UK). But it’s fun to watch the Stormers doing their thing. They are attracting big, diverse crowds of young fans, and deservedly so. Great to see.
1 Go to commentsIt might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
7 Go to comments