Walkinshaw vents fury on Andrew

The maul game: Kingsholm ban follows racist claim and mayhem week ends with Leicester suspending Healey

Tom Walkinshaw and Rob Andrew, who worked together in securing a deal between the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership clubs, will be at 10 paces with pistols drawn next week when the game and some of its leading players go on trial charged with a variety of offences.

At the end of a week unprecedented for accusation and counter-accusation over a series of incidents, the Premiership Five, Austin Healey (Leicester), Alex Sanderson (Sale), Matt Stewart (Northampton), Olivier Azam (Gloucester) and Epi Taione (Newcastle), will appear before an RFU disciplinary panel on Thursday. Healey (kicking), Sanderson (spitting) and Stewart (punching and kneeing) have been cited by officials while Azam and Taione were sent off for fighting during Gloucester's match with Newcastle last weekend.

As all hell broke loose at Kingsholm, Andrew, Newcastle's director of rugby, claimed that Azam, a French international, had called Taione, a Tongan international, a "black bastard". Andrew alleged that Azam was not only guilty of racial abuse but had spat in Taione's face, provoking the fight. "The crowd were yelling at Epi when he went off and he was in tears,'' Andrew added. "It's a very sad day for Gloucester rugby.''

Yesterday Walkinshaw, who is not only chairman of Gloucester but also chairman of the Premiership, said that unless Andrew retracted and apologised, he would face legal action from Azam, the Gloucester supporters' association and the club. A furious Walkinshaw went on: "We will not even allow Rob Andrew into Kingsholm again unless he apologises. We will not let this matter drop. It is a frightfully serious issue and one way or another the city of Gloucester will get satisfaction. Rob has a history of firing from the hip or throwing his dummy out of the pram after games have not gone his way. It's a disgrace. The RFU should consider taking disciplinary action against him for the damage caused by his unsubstantiated comments. There was no racial abuse. We are a multicultural club with players from eight nations.''

Walkinshaw was talking at Kingsholm as Gloucester published a 65-page report into the affair after interviewing 150 people, including medics, supporters, stewards, home players and the referee Roy Maybank.

They did not interview Taione. "That wasn't our job,'' Walkinshaw said. "I was hoping Newcastle would contact us, but we've heard nothing. The police have written to Rob Andrew asking whether he intends to press charges and there is nothing to date.'' Later Walkinshaw addressed the crowd at Kingsholm and was given a huge cheer when he told them that Andrew would not be allowed to step foot on to the ground unless he aplogised unreservedly.

Andrew, who is conducting his own inquiry, countered: "We know what Azam said and he knows what he said. We have clear evidence, including the testimony of several players.'' Newcastle believe Azam sparked the first of two punch-ups by allegedly gouging their prop, George Graham.

In a statement, Azam said yesterday: "While I regret becoming involved in a physical encounter, I would like to categorically deny the allegations of racism. I have never made any such remarks. My mother is French and I was born in France, my father is Moroccan. In French culture this makes me non-white. So it makes the allegation even more crazy. This has damaged my reputation and character beyond repair and could have a detrimental effect on my career. I would like a public apology from Rob Andrew or I will consider legal action.''

Incidents of racial abuse in rugby, although rare, are not new. Serge Blanco, the great French full-back, once had bananas thrown at him and Floyd Steadman, a black scrum-half with Saracens long before the game went professional, was allegedly the subject of a racial insult during a game against Gloucester. Earlier this season, when Junior Paramore was shown a yellow card at Kingsholm against Northampton, the Samoan made an obscene gesture towards John Steele, Northampton's director of rugby, who described him as a "disgrace''.

The unseasonal ill-will exploded a week last Thursday when Sanderson was accused of spitting at a Leicester player. There was more trouble in the tunnel at the end of a fast and furious match and Sanderson, the Sale No 8, claimed he was kicked. He was not the only one.

While Sale were taking the lead through a Jason Robinson try, it is alleged that Healey kicked Anthony Elliot. However, he was not cited until Friday, the day after the incident had been highlighted on Sky TV. The RFU says there is no connection. Healey, who was fined after insulting the Wallabies lock, Justin Harrison, on the eve of the Lions' third Test in Australia, was banned for eight weeks in 1999 for stamping on the London Irish scrum-half Kevin Putt. A similar suspension would mean he would miss the England-Scotland match on 2 February. However, in a pre-emptive action, Leicester yesterday fined him £1,000 and banned him for two weeks. They said Healey was guilty of tripping rather than kicking.

What happened at Welford Road, where the Tigers increased their huge lead in the Premiership, seemed to add to the frustration felt by the rest.

At Franklins Gardens, Northampton, who had been beaten 48-12 by London Irish in November, were in the mood for revenge, and got it. Irish fielded six replacements, five enforced. Brendan Venter, the player/coach, announced he would study the video that night. Rob Hardwick was taken off on a stretcher in the fourth minute after taking a blow to the head and Darren Edwards suffered a dislocated elbow. In the event, the Exiles could find no conclusive evidence of skulduggery. "From the camera angle, we couldn't see what happened,'' an Irish spokesman said. "But we did see things which we referred to the citing commissioner, Johnny Johnson.''

Thus the charge against Stewart, Northampton's Scottish international prop, for using a fist and a knee against opponents. By midweek, John Steele had heard enough. "London Irish wanted to criticise everything and everybody and they should put their own house in order.''

Steele, the former London Scottish coach, accused the Exiles of failing to pay debts from the merger of London Irish, London Scottish and Richmond three years ago. Irish dismissed it as nonsense.

The common factor in the latest cycle of mayhem is that all the alleged offences were off the ball. Tony Spreadbury, the referee at the Leicester-Sale game, issued just one yellow card – against the Sale captain, Stuart Pinkerton, for persistent off-side. Nigel Yates, in charge of the Northampton-London Irish match, also showed one yellow, to the Saints' lock Jon Phillips. Yates pointed out that six penalties were awarded for foul play, two against Phillips for punching. The referee did not see it as a dirty match, but then to see everything, particularly off the ball, referees would need eyes in backs of their heads.

If touch judges, who for the most part are redundant, had a more significant role, they would make the referee's job easier, act as a deterrent and limit the influence of the video. The accusers, the accused and the arbitrators can take their pick from a collection of films shot by the home club, the visitors, the RFU and television. If a citer was invited to study every video, the disciplinary panel would be sitting until next Christmas.

At the Renaissance Hotel (the Big Sleep would have been better) at Heathrow on Thursday, Jeff Blackett of the Royal Navy, Jeff Probyn and David Hurst face a huge task in dealing with high-profile cases involving five international players. Under the catch-all "disrepute'' clause the RFU can impose long suspensions.

The spitting image has come at a time when attendances at Premiership matches have reached an all-time high and sponsors are attracted by a sport that is "family-focused and community-based.'' The traditional notion of rugby as a game for hooligans played by gentlemen has been kicked, punched and spat at.