The Bloodgate Scandal was a rugby union scandal involving the English team Harlequins in their Heineken Cup match against the Irish side Leinster on 12 April 2009. It was so called because of the use of fake blood capsules, and has been seen by some as one of the biggest scandals in rugby since professionalisation in the mid-1990s.
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Events
During the quarter final of the 2009 Heineken Cup against Leinster, Harlequins wing Tom Williams came off the field with what turned out to be a faked blood injury in order to facilitate a tactical substitution for Nick Evans to re-enter the field having gone off earlier injured. An investigation by the ERC and the RFU revealed that blood injuries had also been faked by Harlequins to enable tactical substitutions on four previous occasions. These findings resulted in a twelve-month ban for Williams (reduced to 4 months on appeal ), a three-year ban for former director of rugby Dean Richards and a two-year ban for physiotherapist Steph Brennan as well as a £260,000 fine for the club. The club chairman Charles Jillings subsequently tendered his resignation while the club doctor Wendy Chapman was suspended by the GMC for cutting Williams's lip to hide his use of the blood capsule. On 2 September 2009, it was reported that Harlequins had escaped being thrown out of the Heineken Cup following the scandal when the board of organisers European Rugby Cup (ERC) said it approved of the bans and fines already handed out.
The affair was dubbed by many in the media "Bloodgate". Leinster won the game 6-5, going on to win the Heineken Cup for the first time.
Aftermath
Mark Evans, chief executive of Harlequin FC has said:
"You would be incredibly naive to think (the Bloodgate stigma) will ever disappear completely. Things like that don't. They become part of history and, like good or bad seasons, are woven into the fabric of any club."Richards resigned from his post at Harlequins over an incident in which it was acknowledged that he had orchestrated and had "central control" over a fake blood injury to Tom Williams during a Heineken Cup fixture against Leinster. He was given a three-year suspension from coaching as punishment. The International Rugby Board (IRB) also confirmed that they would apply the ban to rugby union worldwide.
Dr Chapman, the medic who cut Williams' lip, appeared before the General Medical Council charged with alleged conduct likely to bring the profession into disrepute. The appearance resulted in Dr Chapman being warned but allowed to continue practising medicine.