A rugby player who died in a match last week was killed in a high and illegal tackle, the player’s club said on Friday.
”We as a club wish to publicly state that we consider that the tackle which fatally injured winger Tino Amato … was both high and illegally executed,” Peter Fleming, chairman of the Central Hawke’s Bay Rugby and Sports Club, said in a statement.
Rugby deaths are not that unusual here but it is rare for the blame to be so publicly laid on the other player.
Police are investigating.
Amato (34) died from injuries suffered in a premier grade match against Otane in Waipukurau, south of here, on Saturday. He was injured just before half-time and the game was delayed for 15 minutes while he was treated.
Earlier this week, Fleming was quoted as saying Amato’s widow, Vanessa, the mother of the couple’s teenage son, had said she did not want any action taken against the tackler.
”Her attitude is that it is a hard team sport and Tino played it to the full.”
But in Friday’s statement Fleming said the club knew that the tackle was not penalised at the time and that the referee’s reports considered it to have been hard but fair.
”Club members, players and spectators alike also know what they saw and the nature of Tino’s injury leaves little doubt as to the legality of the tackle.”
The statement added the club was prepared to let the police investigation decide the justice of Saturday’s tackle ”but we want it known that we do not condone illegal tackles in any shape or form and that we are going to do something about them”.
”We owe it to Tino and his family, the kids watching from the sidelines, our players and our supporters to take steps to make such tackles unacceptable at all levels of rugby,” Fleming said.
An autopsy found the player died of internal injuries suffered in the tackle, not of any medical condition.
Local reports say the tackler was devastated and was understood to have talked about quitting rugby for good. – Sapa-AFP