{"id":293410,"date":"2023-11-07T19:24:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T19:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?p=293410"},"modified":"2023-11-07T19:24:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T19:24:00","slug":"bongi-mbonambi-denies-racial-slur-at-englands-tom-curry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/rugby-union\/bongi-mbonambi-denies-racial-slur-at-englands-tom-curry\/","title":{"rendered":"Bongi Mbonambi denies racial slur at England&apos;s Tom Curry"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>South Africa star Bongi Mbonambi denies racial slur at Tom Curry at World Cup&#8230; as hooker claims he was speaking in Afrikaans and slams England for being &#8216;unprofessional&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tom Curry claimed\u00a0said Bongi Mbonambi called him a \u2018white c***\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>England forward reported the alleged racial slur to referee Ben O&#8217;Keeffe<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>World Rugby\u2019s investigation decided there was \u2018insufficient evidence\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>South Africa World Cup winner Bongi Mbonambi has denied racially abusing Tom Curry, hitting out at England and the flanker in the process by describing them as \u2018unprofessional\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>In the semi-final between the two teams last month, Curry asked referee Ben O\u2019Keeffe how he should respond after he said Mbonambi called him a \u2018white c***\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The incident prompted a post-match storm, with World Rugby\u2019s subsequent investigation deciding there was \u2018insufficient evidence\u2019 the Springboks hooker had made such a slur.<\/p>\n<p>Mbonambi told BBC Sport Africa the confusion came about because he was speaking in Afrikaans.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I think it is a very sad thing when you live in a first-world country and you think the rest of the world speaks English,\u2019 he said, speaking about the incident with Curry for the first time.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/07\/17\/76883073-0-World_Rugby_has_closed_an_investigation_into_South_African_star_-a-14_1699378669342.jpg\" height=\"417\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>South Africa World Cup winner Bongi Mbonambi has denied racially abusing Tom Curry\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/07\/17\/76927753-0-Tom_Curry_had_reported_the_alleged_comment_to_referee_Ben_O_Keef-a-13_1699378655034.jpg\" height=\"458\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Curry reported the alleged racial slur to referee Ben O&#8217;Keeffe during World Cup semi-final<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It was unprofessional on their (England\u2019s) part.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018They could have gone on a website and looked for an English dictionary and looked for the word in Afrikaans.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018People understood (in South Africa) but obviously their (England\u2019s) side was misunderstood.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I&#8217;m glad it was well taken care of and that is all in the past now. I never racially swore at him.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>England and Curry\u2019s club Sale criticised both World Rugby\u2019s investigation and the abuse the player was given for merely reporting what he had heard.<\/p>\n<p>The fall-out soured what was otherwise a fine tournament.<\/p>\n<p>It was also alleged Curry and Mbonambi had clashed when their respective sides met at Twickenham in November last year.<\/p>\n<p>Curry claimed a similar comment was made by Mbonambi in that game.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I don&#8217;t know him at all,\u2019 said Mbonambi when asked about his relationship with Curry.<\/p>\n<p>While he was being investigated by World Rugby, Mbonambi faced an anxious wait to see if he could feature in his team\u2019s final with New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa beat England by a point in the last four.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/07\/17\/77021587-12721675-The_RFU_alleged_Curry_was_also_abused_by_Mbonambi_in_an_Autumn_N-a-22_1699379473415.jpg\" height=\"420\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The RFU alleged Curry was also abused by Mbonambi in an Autumn Nations match in 2022<\/p>\n<p>After being cleared to face the All Blacks, Mbonambi started the Paris final which his team won 12-11 although he was forced off injured in just the fourth minute with a knee problem.<\/p>\n<p>When clearing Mbonambi of any wrongdoing, World Rugby said the case was closed \u2018unless additional evidence comes to light\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Their investigation included video and audio analysis.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa \u2013 now back-to-back world champions \u2013 always backed Mbonambi and protested his innocence.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12721675\/South-Africa-star-Bongi-Mbonambi-denies-racial-slur-Tom-Curry-World-Cup-hooker-claims-speaking-Afrikaans-slams-England-unprofessional.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa star Bongi Mbonambi denies racial slur at Tom Curry at World Cup&#8230; as hooker claims he was speaking<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bongi Mbonambi denies racial slur at England&amp;apos;s Tom Curry - Sports Love Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/rugby-union\/bongi-mbonambi-denies-racial-slur-at-englands-tom-curry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bongi Mbonambi denies racial slur at England&amp;apos;s Tom Curry - Sports Love Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Africa star Bongi Mbonambi denies racial slur at Tom Curry at World Cup&#8230; 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