Losi Filipo, the rugby player convicted of assault last year after an outcry over a decision to discharge him without conviction, is set to make his first class debut for Wellington.
Losi Filipo Photo: Wellington Lions
Filipo has been named in the reserves for Wellington's match versus Bay of Plenty in Rotorua on Thursday night.
Last year Filipo was sentenced to nine months' supervision for assaulting four people, including two women, in central Wellington in 2015.
Filipo was 17 years old at the time of the assault.
He was also ordered to attend alcohol counselling and a course on living without violence.
Dame Margaret Bazley, right, announces her findings after reviewing Wellington Rugby's handling of the Losi Filipo case. WRFU chief executive Steve Rogers sits on the left and WRFU chairman Iain Potter is centre. Photo: RNZ
Wellington Rugby admitted it had known few details about Filipo's crime and New Zealand Rugby admitted it had lessons to learn from the handling of the player's case.
It undertook an independent review of the way it handled the case after it initially supported his bid to have the case discharged without conviction.
The review carried out by Dame Margaret Bazley recommended Wellington Rugby Union embark on a ten-year plan to change its culture and include more women in the administration of the game.
Her review found Wellington Rugby Football Union (WRFU) managed the incident as well as could be expected, as they did not have a 'robust set of documents' around expectations about players' behaviour.
The union's documents did not reflect today's standards and needed an overhaul, she said.
"The Wellington Rugby Football Union stance that off-field behaviour is not their concern is outdated, given it is this behaviour that is bringing rugby into disrepute."
It was time to engage some of the numerous women rugby supporters, as it was predominantly men administering the sport, Dame Margaret said.
There were 40 professional members, 11,000 amateur players - including 1200 women - and thousands of volunteers involved in the sport, many of whom were women, she said.
"[But] at the very top there are only men."
New standards for the union should apply to everyone, including paid staff and volunteers, she said.
The development of the plan should be undertaken by rugby people, but with input from experts experienced in culture change, and women.
"And women who do not have formal involvement with the sports world - I've suggested several times that they really look at empowering the thousands of women that they have at the grass roots of their organisation and bring some of those women up to the top."
The plan should state players' responsibilities on and off the field to be good citizens, and a zero-tolerance approach for serious misconduct should be included, she said.
