Premiership final: Jono Ross hits out at Just Stop Oil protesters after Twickenham pitch invasion
Protestors let off orange smoke bombs to briefly halt Saturday’s rugby showpiece before being stopped by players
ale captain Jono Ross hit out at Just Stop Oil for ruining sports events, after hauling a protestor off the Twickenham field.
The Sharks skipper manhandled one of the pressure group protestors from the field after the Gallagher Premiership final was interrupted by pitch invaders.
Police made two arrests, with one of the pitch invaders a GP from Bristol.
Back-rower Ross lambasted Just Stop Oil, having had to step in and stop the two invaders who had thrown orange smoke bombs onto the Twickenham turf.
“I don’t agree with what they do, at all,” said Ross, in the wake of Saracens’ 35-25 victory. “It’s completely against everything I believe in.
“They ruin sporting events week-in, week-out, I don’t agree with it, I don’t agree with what they stand for. We’ll leave it there, but I don’t agree with it, at all.”
The two protestors who breached the field during the first-half got more than they bargained for however, when Sale players Tom Curry and Ross accosted the pair.
Curry was seen carrying one of the shocked protestors one-handed from the field, eventually handing the pressure group member over to stadium stewards.
Sale captain Ross did likewise on the other side of the field with the other protestor, and the match was back underway within minutes.
Environment activist group Just Stop Oil have made a name for themselves interrupting major sporting events, with a protestor managing to set off a similar smoke bomb at the World Snooker Championships at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in April.
As the two protestors were removed from the field, Twickenham broke out into collective booing, with the wider climate change point of the pressure group not finding much favour with the west London crowd.
Saracens and Sale had been locked at 6-6 at the time of the interruption, but the Men In Black quickly took the 13-6 lead afterwards through a penalty try.
Just Stop Oil are demanding a halt to new licences for oil, gas and coal projects in the UK. Protestor Dr Patrick Hart, a GP from Bristol, insisted he had a duty to take a stand.
“I am doing this because it’s my duty as a doctor,” said the 37-year-old Dr Hart. “The climate crisis is the greatest health crisis humanity has ever faced.”
Essex construction worker Sam Johnson, 40, was also moved to act by invading the pitch at Twickenham.
“I took action today because we have simply run out of time,” said Johnson. “We’ve got to tackle this now. The whole world knows that licensing new fossil fuel projects in 2023 will cause the deaths of millions of people.”
Two arrests were made as the protests were mopped up relatively quickly, but not without disruption.
“Twickenham Stadium can confirm two people have been arrested and this is now a police matter,” read a statement.