10 BIGGEST SCANDALS
10: ALI WILLIAMS SENT HOME 2007
Comical Ali had long held a desire to inject humour and push the boundaries in team environments. But in 2007 it went too far and a few days before the Blues played a semi-final against the Sharks in Durban, it was announced the All Blacks lock had been sent home.
Williams had apparently broken team protocol several times that season which included late night drinking sessions and other misdemeanours in connection with sponsorship commitments.
After the Blues had played the Force in their final round-robin game, it came to light on the plane to South Africa that there had been yet another incident after the game in Perth and hence senior players and management decided to send home once they landed in Durban.
“Individually, they don’t stack up as a reason to send a guy home,” said Blues chief executive of the incidents in which Williams had been involved.
“We’re talking about weeks and weeks of a large number of misdemeanours where the guy has let down teammates, and let down himself, and the guys weren’t prepared to put up with it any longer.”
The Blues were knocked out by the Sharks but the bigger story was that Williams left the club after that campaign.
His relationship with coach David Nucifora was at the heart of all the problems and incredibly Williams played
