Waratahs flanker Justin Harrison has been hit with a three match ba nand been ordered to carry out community service by a SANZAR Judicial Committee after being found guilty of a racial outburst in a fixture against The Cats earlier this month.
The committee comprised of Terry Willis, Chairman, Mick Mathers and a South African representative, Jannie Lubbe SC, heard a misconduct complaint of racial vilification, brought by the Designated Disciplinary Official, Piet Niemann, against Justin Harrison, arising out of an incident that occurred in the game between the New South Wales Waratahs and Cats on March 12, 2005, at Ellis Park, Johannesburg.
The Committee heard submissions made by Tony Dempsey, who appeared on his behalf, and a statement made by Harrison in which he said:
"I need to start with how profoundly sorry I am that I have set this chain of events in motion, and I am the catalyst, and I am doing as much as I possibly can to, not halt them or hide from them, I am fronting the situation and attempting to ensure that not only will it never happen again in my life span, but hoping to prevent it happening to any other player in the future. To also do my best to redeem whatever irreversible damage I have done to my own reputation and standing in the Australian rugby public, but the community as an Australian citizen, in the South African community, in the Cats organisation, whatever regard I had as a rugby player in South African eyes and lastly, in my family and fiancée's eyes."
He explained his actions by saying:
"I can offer no real explanation as to why I said the words that I chose, except that it was by no means premeditated or a reflection of my beliefs, a reflection of my upbringing, a reflection of my regard for fellow players on the field and for my own team. It was an absolutely terrible attempt to get a reaction to the benefit of our team which was abhorrent and undeniably wrong."
And he concluded by saying:
"I am terribly ashamed of what has happened and I just ask that I get the chance to make, in some small way, some sort of amends of which I will spend the rest of my life attempting to do so."
The Judicial Committee accepted, and Harrison clearly demonstrated, his real remorse. He gave evidence that he personally apologised to Chumani Booi, who unconditionally accepted his apology. The Judicial Committee decided to suspend Harrison for three (3) Super 12 matches.
Harrison was accordingly suspended from all forms of rugby up to and including 2 April 2005. Harrison
was also fined $20,000, to be paid on or before 31 December 2005.
However, the Judicial Committee decided to suspend the payment of the fine of $20,000 upon the condition that Harrison completes his offer to attend an anti-discrimination course, run by the Anti-discrimination Board of NSW, and serve 30 hours community service delivering anti-vilification workshops to Academy Players of the ACTRU, NSWRU, QRU and the Australian Rugby Institute.