Bloodgate stain has tainted my career forever, says Chapman

THE doctor at the centre of the Bloodgate controversy has admitted she may find it difficult to return to medicine, as her name would forever be associated with her part in the scandal.

Dr Wendy Chapman cut the lip of Harlequins wing Tom Williams to cover up a bogus blood injury, allowing specialist goal kicker Nick Evans come off the bench in the dying minutes of last April’s Heineken Cup quarter-final tie against Leinster, who held on to win 6-5.

Appearing before the UK General Medical Council, Dr Chapman said that before Bloodgate she had been hoping to take a fuller role at the club and was in line to work in somecapacity at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

She told a fitness to practise panel that although she had received support since from “various people” at Harlequins it had been “made plain to her” that she would never work for them again.

She admitted almost all the charges levelled against her by the GMC, which said her conduct on the matchday, and at a later European Rugby Cup (ERC) disciplinary hearing, was likely to bring the profession into disrepute and was dishonest.

The panel began to consider whether Dr Chapman’s fitness to practise was impaired because of her misconduct. Her counsel Mary O’Rourke asked about her future prospects of employment.

She replied: “Obviously it is hugely dependent on what the panel decide. It is also going to be hard to get work after this.

“I do not imagine ever working in sports medicine again, basically the prospects are minimal. Whenever my name comes up there will always be Bloodgate tied to it and now a GMC investigation as well.

“I don’t think it (Bloodgate) will go away but I just want to show, if I’m allowed, that I can hold my head up and prove this was not the person I am.”

Earlier, panel chairman Dr Brian Alderman ruled there was no evidence to say the intentional act of cutting was “premeditated or you had any involvement or prior knowledge of the deception”.

Dr Chapman is currently suspended from practising medicine pending the outcome of the hearing in which she could be struck off. The hearing continues today.

Meanwhile, Premier Rugby chiefs are confident the measures they have introduced to combat cheating will ensure the sport is never again scarred by another Bloodgate-style incident.

The Premiership regulations for the new season give doctors from the opposing team the right to examine any blood injury which has forced a player from the field. The initiative was in place on a voluntary basis last season following the Bloodgate scandal – and there were not a single incident of a player’s injury being challenged.

Premier Rugby’s director of rugby Phil Winstanley believes the threat of being caught out in such a manner is enough of a deterrent.

“We have put the right steps in place (to make sure it never happens again) and all the clubs have the opportunity to look at those,” said Winstanley.

Premier Rugby also tackled the contentious issue of uncontested scrums last summer by extending matchday squads to 23, with an additional front-row forward on the bench.

The move proved an immediate success with not a single incident of uncontested scrums being called in all of last year’s Premiership campaign, compared with 16 the year before.

There had been numerous allegations of front-row players who were struggling in the scrum feigning injury in order to neutralise the opposition’s advantage.