Wrong rugby! Nadine Dorries slips up at a Rugby League World Cup event, hilariously reminiscing over ‘that 2003 drop-goal’ by Jonny Wilkinson – in rugby UNION – and even her hosts brand the Culture Secretary ‘a bit disrespectful’
- Nadine Dorries, Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport has made a gaffe
- Cabinet minister confused Rugby Union with League at a speech in St Helens
- She waxed lyrical about Jonny Wilkinson’s match-winning drop goal for England in the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup – but later quipped she’d ‘changed codes’
Nadine Dorries, the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, stunned a rugby league audience by confusing the 13-man game with the rival code.
Speaking in St Helens at the launch of a report into the social impact of the Rugby League World Cup, Dorries opened her address with a reference to Jonny Wilkinson’s match-winning drop goal for England in the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup.
‘I’ve always quite liked the idea of rugby league,’ she said. ‘My long-standing memory is that 2003 drop goal. ‘I’ll let you into a secret. I think we were drinking Bloody Mary’s at the time. It was 11 o’clock in the morning but wow what a moment that was.’
England’s Jonny Wilkinson kicked the winning drop goal to clinch the Rugby Union World Cup for England
The embarrasing gaffe did not end there as Dorries, who is the MP for mid-Bedfordshire, tried to liken the sport to her own experience of politics.
Unfortunately, she chose to concentrate on the scrum, which is more a feature of Rugby Union, than League.
Dorries continued: ‘I have heard and I know from my limited watching that it’s an incredibly physical and sometimes brutal sport and it often ends up in a scrum, which actually reminds me very much of politics.
‘I think we have a lot in common and given a lot of the media like to call me the prime minister’s attack dog, I wonder sometimes if I should give rugby a go.’
Nadine Dorries tried to recover the situation by cracking a Rugby League joke on Twitter
Some may think Dorries really ought to know better. Not only does her brief include sport, but she was born and brought up in the Anfield district of Liverpool, just 10 miles from St Helens, which is in the heart of Rugby League country.
Following the awkward error, the minister tried to recover the situation by cracking a Rugby League joke on Twitter, suggesting she had ‘switched codes’ like Jason Robinson.
He played as a winger and full back in a career that started in Rugby League for Wigan and Great Britain in the nineties, before continuing in Rugby Union with Sale, England and the British and Irish Lions in the noughties.
‘Like Jason Robinson I may have switched codes in my speech…’ quipped Dorries.
Dorries is a cabinet minister with responsibility for culture, media and sport
‘Both league & union have a rich heritage in the UK. Obviously I’ve followed rugby league much less in my lifetime, but I’m looking forward to watching England (& all the home nations) in the RL World Cup this Autumn.’
Rugby Football League chief executive Ralph Rimmer refused to criticise Dorries for her faux pas, preferring to thank the Government for its £25million backing. ‘I’m not going to dwell on that,’
Rimmer said. ‘It’s brilliant that she’s here and we’ve had fantastic support from the Government. I’m not going to knock the shine off any of that. ‘She gets a chance to see us as we really are and good on her for coming up.
Dorries was speaking at an event, which revealed the findings of a report which claims the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, which was postponed until this year as a result of the Covid pandemic, has already made £25m worth of positive change in communities across the north of England through its social impact programme.
The report highlights the success of providing funds for pitches, clubhouses and changing rooms.
Dorries said: ‘We know that some of the towns and cities that will host Rugby League World Cup 2021 matches are amongst those hardest hit by the pandemic and increases in the cost of living and the Government has backed the tournament with over £15m investment to bring world-class sport to these communities.
Billy Vaughan, Vice Chair of Portico Vine RLFC, which will be a beneficiary of the World Cup social impact programme, told the BBC that the error was ‘a little bit disrespectful to the [rugby] codes’, but he blamed the department’s researchers not the Secretary of State.
‘It was comical,’ said Vaughan. ‘No detriment to her as an individual. Someone writes that speech for her. They just need to do the research a little better.
It was all based on ‘kick and clap’ – Rugby Union – we are a Rugby League team.
‘It is a little bit disrespectful to the various codes,’ he added. ‘But I am glad she came and sanctioned the money that we got, but the researchers need to have a bit more interest in Rugby League.’
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