RFU reveal decision on the future of 'Swing Low' after major review

Rugby News

by Rugby Rucker

Friday, 09 October 2020 at 08:31

byRugby Rucker

Add as a preferred source on Google

The RFU has confirmed it WILL NOT ban Swing Low, Sweet Chariot following a review of the songs history.

It comes as part of its commitment to improving diversity and inclusion in rugby union moving forward.

They have announced it will use social media to educate supporters in addition to "providing platforms for diverse voices across the game".

"The RFU needs to step up its efforts to improve diversity and inclusion across our game," said RFU chair Andy Cosslett.

"We are living through testing times, but this will not deter us from grasping the opportunity to better reflect the society we live in.

"We have worked hard to understand our starting point and are now under way with a plan that we are confident will produce big improvements in our diversity and inclusion over the next few years.

"Rugby union has always prided itself as being a 'game for all'... we must now demonstrate beyond any doubt that we mean it."

JOIN THE RUCK:

5 people who should avoid reading Joe Marler’s new autobiography

1. Joe Launchbury

The England ptop, in his section on teammates nicknames, reveals an uncomplimentary one given to the Wasps captain during England duty.

Due to him forever knocking everything over with his backside, the biggest in world rugby, Marler joked 'your ass is like a permanent slosh bucket.'

Long story short, he hated it but is still known as 'Slosh' or 'Slosh bucket' to this day in England training/

2. Gavin Henson

Despite this being another rather funny story from Marler, it also shows the ego of Henson in 2005 was off the scale. Being told to hurry up with his hair by his captain Gareth Thomas, the playmaker showed his skipper little respect.

Henson's reply to Thomas was: "Alf, your mother and father have come to watch you play today, but there are 72,000 out there who have come to watch me."

3. Olly Kohn

One of the hands down best stories from the book comes from a wet and windy away game in Biarritz where Marler thought he might 'freeze to death in a cloud of garlic breath and BO.'

A desperate idea saw the prop piss himself, and after being sussed out by teammate Kohn, the lock joined him, 'piising their pants in unison in an effort to survive.'

The two then promised to never speak about the incident, which Marler apologies for breaking in his book by simply saying 'sorry mate'.

4. Jonny May

This isn't necessarily a negative story about the speedster, but having the fact you take part in WWE like wrestling in your underpants published to the masses probably isn't ideal.

Marler tells a wonderful story of how their epic one-on-one match from behind closed doors was discovered by 2003 World Cup winner and then England coach Mike Catt in 2013.

This resulted in the pair having to wrestle in front of their teammates with May coming out on top after Marler was forced to start on his knees due to his weight advantage.

Marler went onto say: "It was always Jonny who usually tapped out. He was incredibly fit and strong and his wrestling skills were awesome, but being the much chunkier bloke I beat im every time."

Later on, Marler tells the story of May scoring a try for England U20 with his ass off in incredible detail, saying at one point: "I mean, it wasn't just a bit of bum crack or half a cheek poking out. This was full moon."

5. Dwayne Peel

The loosehead prop tells a wonderful story of how the legendary Wales scrum-half, who won 76 caps between 2001 and 2011, got a taste of his own medicine when his pranks became too much for some of his teammates.