Harlequins’ Danny Care Reflects on Bloodgate as Club’s ‘Darkest Time’

Harlequins veteran Danny Care has characterized the “Bloodgate” controversy as the most challenging period in the club’s history. The incident, which involved winger Tom Williams leaving the field with a ‘blood injury’ during Harlequins’ Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster in 2009, became widely known through images of blood emanating from his mouth, causing a stir in the rugby world. A subsequent investigation determined that the club had fabricated blood injuries to facilitate tactical substitutions, leading to significant penalties for Williams, director of rugby Dean Richards, and physiotherapist Steph Brennan. Care conveyed to BBC Sport London, “There’s no doubt about it, it’s the darkest time in Harlequins’ history, and rightly so that the punishment was what we got. We deserved it.” He added, “It was happening widespread in the game, I just think Harlequins did it really badly and rightly got caught, and it was stamped out of the game completely.” He recalled being a naive 22-year-old participating in what he considered the most important match of his career, which ultimately resulted in a loss for Quins. Richards eventually resigned and received a three-year ban from all rugby activities. Brennan was removed from the Health Professions Council’s register but successfully appealed the decision in the High Court nearly two years after the event. Williams initially faced a one-year ban, which was subsequently reduced to four months. Charles Jillings, who co-owned the club, stepped down from his role as chairman. Care stated, “It took a long time for Quins to regain the respect and the trust of the rugby world.” He continued, “It’s always going to be in our past, but it’s in our past and we’re trying to move on and grow this game.” Care, a former England scrum-half with 101 international caps, has been instrumental in this recovery and has established himself as an undisputed legend in the club’s history. He has been a member of two Premiership-winning teams for Harlequins in 2012 and 2021, and was part of the squad that reached the Champions Cup semi-finals for the first time in the club’s history last season. The 37-year-old also secured three Six Nations Championships with England, including a Grand Slam in 2016. In his recently published book, he has made claims regarding a “toxic” environment under Eddie Jones’ coaching. Harlequins’ most recent Premiership title in 2021 occurred while their London rivals, Saracens, were competing in the Championship, having been relegated for violating salary cap regulations. Despite his friendships with many players from the north London club at the time, Care views this as another scandal with a lasting impact on the sport, which he hopes has been permanently eradicated. Care remarked, “We were up against a team we couldn’t compete with for many years but we knew there was something going on.” He expressed hope, “Hopefully, a little bit like Bloodgate, we won’t see anything like that happening again.” He emphasized, “All we want is a fair sport for this game that we all love.” Concluding, “The best team on the pitch should be the team that lifts the trophy at the end of the season and for a few years unfortunately that wasn’t happening.” Care has accumulated 381 appearances for Quins and has contributed to the club winning three of their initial six Premiership games this season, placing them fifth in the table. Now in his 19th season with the Twickenham Stoop team, he acknowledged uncertainty about whether this will be his final season. He commented, “The body’s telling me a little bit at the moment now. We’re going to be making some decisions quite soon on that.” He added, “I realise the time’s running out but I’m just trying to enjoy myself, to see how many games I can get out [there].” Care has made 101 appearances for England.