The Latest Entry Into the Cheating Hall of Fame

If you like cheating, you have to love British rugby player Tom Williams‘s ploy last week.
Apparently there is a rule in rugby, as in soccer, that once a substitution is made to take a player out of the match, that player can’t return to the game. The exception to this rule is “blood injuries,” in which case a player can come off until the bleeding is stopped and then return to play.
Tom Williams suffered just such a blood injury at a very critical moment of a recent match. I don’t know anything about rugby, but his team was down by a point and they had some sort of drop-kicking specialist on the sidelines and it was the perfect time for him to come in and try a kick that would give Williams’ team the Harlequins the lead.
The trouble began when Williams looked a bit too happy as he left the field considering the large quantities of blood pouring from his mouth. One might have written this off to his being a rugby player, but apparently even rugby players get cross when smashed in the mouth, which led to an investigation. Eventually, television footage revealed that Williams had pulled a capsule of theatrical blood out of his sock and bitten into it in order to produce the faked injury.
A brilliant idea, but alas, in the end not only did Williams get suspended from the league for a year, his substitute also missed the kick and the Harlequins lost the game by a single point.
(More on this story here. Hat tip: Dean Strachan.)