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Banned for six months: Stade
Francais scrum-half Julien Dupuy
Photo: Michael Paler |
Stade
Francais scrum-half Julien Dupuy has been banned from rugby for
six months by the ERC after being found guilty of eye-gouging Stephen Ferris
in last weekend's Heineken Cup defeat at Ulster.
The France
international (26 tomorrow) will now miss the rest of the 2009/10 season,
with his ban running until June 3 - a week after the play-off final for
France's Top 14. Stade Francais now have 72 hours to appeal the decision.
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The
draconian sentence is a massive blow to the player, who has only recently
established himself as Marc Lièvremont's No 1 choice at scrum-half. The
length of the ban means he will now be unavailable for France's summer tour
to South Africa. It is also a major set-back for Stade, who will be without
one of their star players for the business end of the season.
Sentencing
on Dupuy's team-mate David Attoub, who was also cited for eye-gouging, was
delayed until an unspecified date in the New Year. It is understood that the
ERC disciplinary panel is seeking technical verification of a seemingly
incriminating photograph that Stade now claim was 'doctored'. The
photographer concerned, Olivier McVeigh, attended today's hearing in Dublin
and denied any foul play, but the delay would seem to indicate that the
panel want forensic confirmation before they pass judgement. Attoub is
suspended in the meantime.
Dupuy knew
that he faced a minimum of 12 weeks out but panel chairman Jeff Blackett
decided his actions were serious enough to warrant the six month ban as the
IRB continues its crackdown on eye-gouging.
The Stade pair released a
statement of their own via the Stade Francais website earlier in the week as
it became clear that television images were highly incriminating. The Paris
club also apologised to Ulster for the duo's actions.
“The club deeply regret this
situation,” said a Stade statement. “We envisage taking disciplinary
sanctions against the players despite their citation before an ERC
commission,” it added.
“It is normal that the club penalises
players for actions as dumb and stupid,” said the Dupuy-Attoub statement.
“Again, we apologise to the Ulster players and the club, whom we did not
mean to cause offence. The actions were neither premeditated nor
intentional.
“We want to apologise to our club, our
staff and supporters for the negative image that we have left with these
actions,” it added.
Television footage showed Dupuy twice putting his fingers into
Ferris’ eyes. “I stupidly got riled up, like an idiot. I think my gesture
came from irritation,” he admitted. “The images aren’t really in my favour,
but I really didn’t want to put my fingers in his eyes,” added
the former Leicester Tigers scrum-half.
London Wasps coach Shaun Edwards had
led calls for a lengthy ban, with the former rugby league
international describing eye-gouging as “the worst things you can do on a
rugby field”. Edwards said he felt a year-long ban would be appropriate for
the alleged offences.
