High profile rugby stars begin to call out Pablo Matera for controversial social media messages
It’s been a rollercoaster few week for Argentinian skipper, Pablo Matera.
After the ecstatic high of being the first captain to lead his country to victory against the All Blacks to several viral moments on social media that shot him to international fame.
This was all followed by a spectacular fall from grace after tweets from eleven years ago revealed xenophobic messages, leading to Matera being stripped of the captaincy of Argentina.
Now, after a hearing, he has been reinstated as skipper of Los Pumas, and it sure has got some fans and players alike in a bit of a spin.
In recent hour, high profile players from around the game have begun to openly call out the loose forward – stating that an apology isn’t enough for the tweets that were sent over a decade ago.
Former England and Lions winger Ugo Monye, spoke to Radio 5 Live Sport today and spoke of how he felt rugby had a problem with dealing with racism. He said that the handling of the situation from UAR (Argentina Rugby Union) was woeful and that they were choosing to protect one player over millions of people.
“Rugby doesn’t know how to deal with racism”@ugomonye with a powerful message after Pablo Matera was reinstated as Argentina captain.
🆕 Rugby Union Weekly: https://t.co/okX0Psnd2U#bbcrugby pic.twitter.com/1z0NR9RIAk
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) December 4, 2020
The Dragons winger, Ashton Hewitt, has been an outspoken advocate for the black lives matter movement this year and has been one of the loudest voices against Matera in recent days. This is what he said to say when the news broke that he would be regaining the Argentinian captaincy.
What gets to me is people acting like racists reach a certain age and wake up one day reformed – so let’s give him the benefit of the doubt.
Thinking it’s “a nice day to run over black people” isn’t one of those average regrettable things in life. It’s a bit more serious.
— Ashton Hewitt (@ashton_hewitt) December 3, 2020
He went on to say that, for him, sorry was enough and that the 27-year-old would have to prove that he had changed if he was to truly be accepted back into the international rugby community.
If he’s changed he needs to explain himself because sorry doesn’t cut it for me. https://t.co/CqqMysWA3H
— Ashton Hewitt (@ashton_hewitt) December 3, 2020
Hewitt wasn’t the only person who wasn’t happy about the decision with fans across social media disagreeing with he decision from the Argentina Rugby Union.
— Simon Zebo (@SimonZebo) December 3, 2020
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Very glad the UAR has taken immediate action.
This is obviously hugely important for making sure those attacked know rugby does not reflect Matera’s views, it’s vital for helping the horrid image problem rugby has in Argentina, but there’s more to it than that. A thread- https://t.co/dh7qm9t18T
— Squidge Rugby (@SquidgeRugby) December 1, 2020
For clarity
I’m not suggesting that Matera be banned for life and taken out the back of the ARU and pistol whipped
But you could remove the captaincy. 3 month ban. Public facing anti racism campaign so that the players and supporters understand the situation
Then go from there
— Paul Williams (@thepaulwilliams) December 3, 2020
There were also those on social media who were happy at the decision from Argentina Rugby Union and who thought that it was the best thing for the game.
