Ulster boss McFarland appeals for witnesses to any Zebo taunts

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland has reiterated the province’s condemnation of any verbal abuse allegedly directed at former Munster and Ireland star Simon Zebo last weekend. McFarland also urged any supporter who knows what happened to get in touch with the club.

Soon after Racing 92’s defeat at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday, Zebo tweeted of his disappointment at remarks he heard from supporters.

Simon Zebo before the game. Picture: Inpho

“I hope my ears deceived me with some comments directed my way from the crowd. #NotOn Django wins in the end.”

Last night Racing 92 released a statement condemning the comments.

“Racing 92 strongly condemns the racist insults that Simon Zebo was targetted with on Saturday during the European Cup game between this club and Ulster Rugby at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast,” a statement read.

Racism has no place in rugby, in which the values of solidarity and togetherness are the exact opposite of any forms of discrimination.

Racing, however, does not wish to stigmatise Ulster Rugby as a whole. The insults suffered by Simon Zebo are the actions of only one or two individuals and have been condemned by many Ulster fans who have shown their support for Simon.

McFarland wants the matter properly investigated.

“If there is anybody out there who knows what happened, and, if something happened, we want to know because nobody should have to put up with that,” he said yesterday. “We are aware of Simon’s tweet and the discussion around that.”

Addressing the suggestion that the abuse may have been of racist nature, McFarland said: “If that did happen, it is totally unacceptable.

“This is a club where inclusivity plays a huge part. We want people of all different extractions, types, whatever, anybody, we want them involved. And anything that goes against that is totally unacceptable.”

Asked about the role of social media in fuelling controversy, McFarland added:

“I don’t see social media as a problem. For me it’s just social evolution. It is what it is. The idea of a problem is that you have to solve it.

“You have to roll with it and understand it, while also making sure that us as older generations who might not use it as much understand why and how it is used by younger generations.

“It’s a fantastic thing and can be used for so much good. There is a lot of dwelling on the negative aspects of it but it can be used for a lot of good.

“There is a responsibility that goes with it. Our players are coached on that, they have training on that.

“They certainly have a large responsibility there.

“For the most part, even though it’s something that we’re all still learning about, they use it remarkably well.”

On the pitch, Ulster now travel to face Leicester Tigers on Saturday following their 26-22 victory over the Parisians, with major injury doubts over half-back John Cooney (back spasm) and Billy Burns (calf strain).

“We’re still in a situation where our qualification is in our own hands and that’s how we want it,” said McFarland.

“There are plenty of clubs in Europe who don’t have that opportunity. We do have that opportunity and we understand the task ahead of us. Leicester are a huge club, a club with a proud history and they’ll definitely be wanting to make sure we don’t qualify.

“Going over there and having the experience of guys who have been there before will be good. Also having guys who are desperate to play at this level is also good.”

McFarland praised the way his team started with a bang against Racing.

“We came in at the start of the week and we’d had a conversation the previous two weeks about how we start games. We had a couple of games over Christmas where we didn’t start well and there were games earlier in the season where we didn’t start well.

“At this level, if they’re not willing to do that, you’re in trouble. They had a really good week’s preparation and we’ll need the same thing this week.”

McFarland added: “Team training is about improving your cohesive performance, timing of lines, understanding movement in line-out, relative to people around you, things you can’t actually do at home or in front of the computer.”