Inquiry after player loses testicle

By PATRICK GOWER

A teenage rugby player has lost a testicle as the result of an injury in a club rugby match.

The player from the Pirongia under-19 team was admitted to Waikato Hospital one day after a match against Otorohanga's Kio Kio United club and subsequently one of his testicles was surgically removed.

The cause of the injury has not been officially determined but the Herald understands the 18-year-old alleges an opponent wrenched and squeezed his testicles during the match on Friday night two weeks ago.

The player's parents and Pirongia club officials will tonight meet the Waikato Rugby Union to discuss the incident and possible action.

The Waikato council of clubs chairman, John Gillespie, said they hoped to resolve whether there was foul play and what the union needed to do to ensure such an injury was avoided in future.

"If it is the result of foul play then we would be concerned that sort of thing went on, particularly as it was at under-19 level and in a night game.

"If that is the case then we want to send a message to everyone that it is not on."

Mr Gillespie said the delay in the inquiry was because the incident was not immediately brought to the union's attention and it had since had to wait for a medical report.

"The problem is that the game passed without any incident being reported.

"Everyone needs to be aware that if something like this does happen then for God's sake stop the game and tell the ref."

If there was no foul play involved, the union would have no further part to play other than offering support to the young man.

Mr Gillespie will be accompanied by the union's amateur rugby manager, David Cooper, and Hamilton lawyer Mark Hammond, who is on the union's board of directors.

Neither the Pirongia club nor the youth's parents wanted to comment before the meeting.

Kio Kio United club president Bruce Bowen said the team had been spoken to about the incident but the club had heard nothing official from Pirongia and would make no comment until it had heard the outcome of the meeting, at which it would not be represented.

All Black doctor John Mayhew, who is also the NZRFU medical adviser, will ask for a report on the incident from the Waikato Rugby Union.

Dr Mayhew said he had seen testicular injuries from actions on the paddock before - the most high-profile being during the All Blacks' 1999 World Cup semifinal against France, and when Wayne Shelford had his scrotum ripped open playing against France in Nantes in 1986. However, the severity of this injury was "at a different end of the spectrum".

"Testicular injuries or trauma are uncommon and long-term problems are unusual.

"The degree or magnitude [of force] in this case may have been much higher, or there are other factors involved."

Dr Mayhew said that if the perpetrator were identified he could face criminal charges.

He said testicular injuries were a surgical emergency that had to be treated without delay or "all hell would break loose".

A testicle removal could be cosmetically repaired without trace and would not cause impotence, although it could mean the person might become sterile and need hormone treatment.

"Any right-minded person would agree that there needs to be zero tolerance towards this sort of play."