A journalist told the High Court yesterday an article he had written for The Irish Times about the banning of French rugby star Olivier Magne did not call for the publishing of a retraction or apology to the Irish chairman of a disciplinary committee which suspended the French international for three weeks for head-butting another player.
Mr Peter Boyle, Hillside Drive, Castle Park, Dublin, a solicitor and the chairman of the Six-Nation disciplinary committee which suspended the French player on March 9th, 2000, is alleging he was defamed by the article written by Mr John O'Sullivan and published in The Irish Times on the day after the disciplinary hearing.
In that article, it was stated Magne had suggested the "Irish rugby fraternity" had colluded to keep him out of France's next game, which was against Ireland 10 days later. Magne was suspended for 21 days for head-butting Scotland's Stuart Reid in the Murrayfield international the previous weekend.
The article quoted Magne as saying: "This is a stitch-up. This sentence was already decided before the hearing and I sensed that when I arrived in Dublin. After all, I was being heard by Irishmen in Ireland a week before we play Ireland." The article continued: "Not quite true. The Frenchman's case was heard by a three-man committee under the chairmanship of Ireland's Peter Boyle, with one representative from England and Wales respectively."
It was alleged the article attacked Mr Boyle's integrity by accusing him of a "stitch up " for the purpose of giving Ireland an advantage in its game with France on March 18th, 2000.
The Irish Times admits publication of the article but denies it was published falsely or maliciously. It further denies Mr Boyle had been injured in character, reputation or professional standing.
A former Irish international referee, Mr John West, told Mr Justice O'Higgins and a jury the article was not accurate and was most unfair to Mr Boyle. He knew Mr Boyle well enough not to be influenced by the article and knew there had not been any "plot".
Mr Gerry White of the Leinster Branch, IRFU, said he was shocked by the suggestion in the report that Mr Boyle's integrity was being questioned. He felt there could not have been any substance to the allegation.
Mr O'Sullivan said he incorporated the quotations from Magne into his report after seeing them on the AFP's (a French newsagency) computer screen. He tried to get in touch with Mr Boyle on the day but was unable to do so. He inserted the sentence: "Not quite true" in order to rubbish the claims made by Magne concerning the way the disciplinary committee hearing had been conducted.
Mr Richard Nesbitt SC, for The Irish Times, said the article was in fact in support of Mr Boyle because it stated that what the French player had alleged was "not quite true". It was destructive of everything Magne had alleged.