4.6 • 5.2K Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Rugby union was rocked to its core by an episode that involved deception, cover-ups, recriminations and life-changing consequences for those involved.
Hosted by actor and award-winning documentary maker Ross Kemp, with reporting by BBC rugby union correspondent Chris Jones, this series uncovers new details and untold stories about the infamous ‘Bloodgate’ scandal.
Kemp takes listeners on an intense journey into how a simple blood capsule triggered a series of events that shook the sport.
At the heart of this story is Tom Williams, the young Harlequins player who found himself caught up in a scheme to cheat during a critical match. He opens up about his role in the cover-ups and the decision to blow the whistle on the whole operation, revealing the conspiracies, secret deals, and the aftermath.
The podcast not only features interviews with rugby icons like Brian O’Driscoll, Shane Horgan, Ugo Monye, Nick Easter and referee Nigel Owens, who were on the pitch on that fateful day, but also esteemed journalists and investigators, who reveal how they exposed the plot and covered the messy consequences.
To listen to the full series, search for Sport's Strangest Crimes on BBC Sounds.
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
0:00.0 | Did you know that you can listen to many of your favorite podcasts first on BBC Sounds? |
0:06.9 | Like Friday Night Comedy, where you can hear the latest episode seven days earlier, |
0:11.0 | and a week is an extremely long time in politics. |
0:14.4 | Good things come to those who don't wait. |
0:17.4 | Listen to your favourite podcasts first on BBC Sounds. |
0:22.7 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
0:27.2 | Five Lives, Rugby Union Weekly. |
0:31.8 | Hello and welcome to a special edition of Rugby Union Weekly. |
0:37.0 | I'm Ross Kemp, and I'm here to introduce you to sports strangest crimes, Bloodgate. |
0:43.1 | It tells the story of one of the biggest scandals in rugby union history |
0:47.3 | through the voices of those who were there. |
0:50.3 | You're about to hear episode one and you can listen to the first four episodes right |
0:55.8 | now, first on BBC Sounds. Just search sports, strangest crimes. |
1:04.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
1:07.6 | This is just so obviously wrong and so obviously a lie. |
1:12.6 | It's out and out. Cheezing. |
1:15.6 | This extraordinary story started to sort of unravel. |
1:20.6 | It did have everything. It had human failings in every shade. |
1:25.6 | Tom's parents were being hounded by journalists. |
1:29.4 | We had press on our doorstep. |
1:32.6 | We didn't know he was offered money |
1:36.2 | and everything else from the club. |
... |
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