I had the totally odious experience of watching and listening to Phil Hall, editor of the News of the World, trying to defend the role of his newspaper in attempting to destroy the career of the England rugby union captain Lawrence Dallaglio.

He sat there smugly, saying that it was totally acceptable for his reporters to pose as potential sponsors to coerce Mr Dallaglio into saying something indiscreet about his past.

I am mostly proud to be British, but I am usually totally embarrassed or disgusted by the things our tabloids get up to. What chance have our teams got of succeeding at the highest level in their sport if the press are constantly hounding and harassing them looking for any blemishes on their characters that could lead to their downfall?

If they must indulge in such behaviour then they should have a go at our opposition, for example focusing their attentions on the rugby teams of the southern hemisphere, looking for anything that might disrupt their preparations, thereby giving the British teams a remote chance of World Cup glory.

Lawrence Dallaglio is an inspirational captain and player. Should he miss the World Cup because of this hounding, then it will remove what small chance England have of lifting the trophy. If the rumours are even remotely true, then he should have had the initial opportunity to explain himself outside of the public glare, and then have been dealt with by the Rugby Union.

However, if the rumours turn out to be ill-founded, then this whole episode will go down as something we should all be ashamed of for a long time to come, and the newspaper concerned should be sued for every filthy penny they have.

Martin Rigby,

York Road,

Haxby,

York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.