The headteacher of Northampton School for Boys has hit back at one of the UK’s best known sports pundits after millions heard him launch a tirade on national radio about an alleged incident during a recent rugby match involving NSB.
Steve Bunce has come under fire for what NSB has described as his “grossly unfair” criticisms of the school during last Saturday’s edition of Fighting Talk on BBC Five Live.
During the broadcast of the high octane, award-winning sports show, 50-year-old Mr Bunce - one of the country’s leading boxing journalists - claimed he had witnessed the worst player behaviour he had ever seen during a match between NSB and Denstone College in Staffordshire last month.
Mr Bunce, who attended the match in Northampton with his wife as his son plays for Denstone, claimed he had been called a four-letter swear word by one of the NSB players and alleged the same player had spat at his wife.
Speaking on the radio show, the pundit, known to millions as “Buncey”, said: “I have discussed it with a number of people in the rugby world and they cannot believe it.
“I have been to six Olympic Games and thousands of sporting events during the 25 years I have been covering sport and I’ve never seen behaviour like it from a player.”
The sports presenter then went on to describe the incident as “absolutely disgraceful behaviour” and called for Northampton to be put in the dictionary as something “naughty, outrageous or disgusting in sport”.
Mr Bunce wrongly claimed NSB was a fee-paying school, while omitting to mention that Denstone College is.
But Rod Goldswain, acting headteacher of NSB, has said that Mr Bunce failed to fully explain on the radio the circumstances and the full context of the incident which he said was dealt with at the time by staff.
Mr Goldswain said: “Unfortunately he (Mr Bunce) has used his privileged position as a BBC radio presenter to create what he sees as entertainment by criticising and naming a school and attempting to disparage both this school and our town.
“This is grossly unfair based, as it was, on one isolated incident.
“Those who know the school will not recognise the presenter’s comments applying to Northampton School for Boys.
“We are well known nationally for high levels of performance in a range of different sports and for our high expectations and values.
“We have a dedicated team of staff who work tirelessly to create a valued sports ethos and inspire students to play and respect others.
“I would hope that Steve Bunce regrets the comments he made in the name of so called entertainment.”
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