There was a time in rugby football when men from all nations made agreements, shook hands on them and went away secure in the knowledge that those agreements would be honoured in every respect. That was the tradition in the game and it was a good and honourable tradition. Many of the men who made those agreements were looked upon by some as a crowd of old conservatives.

Conservative some of them undoubtedly were, here and elsewhere but they were men of integrity.

There was a bond in the game, built on trust, understanding and mutual respect and preserved through the years. Those were the days when honour prevailed in the game and deals were not done behind the backs of colleagues.

Rugby ran its own affairs and was not hostage to outside interests. Clubs were run by committees elected by their members.

Earlier this week once more we had the game of rugby held up to ridicule by the action of the English Rugby Union, or as they call themselves The Rugby Football Union (RFU). The game got headlines once more for all the wrong reasons. And just why was this so? Because the RFU would not honour an agreement, not a verbal agreement but one signed by their own representatives in 1996.

That was the 10-year accord that came after England had been ejected from the Five Nations Championship having done a clandestine television deal with Sky behind the backs of their home union colleagues.

That deal was being done while at the same time one of the RFU's representatives John Jeavons-Fellows was a member of the committee appointed by the four Home Unions to negotiate a new deal for the televised rights of the Championship.

Jeavons-Fellows was one of the four-member committee that also included Syd Millar of Ireland, Vernon Pugh (Wales) and Fred McLeod (Scotland).

England got back into the championship by agreeing to put a percentage of the money they got from Sky into the communal pool. That sum was to be fixed by an independent valuer appointed by the president of the Law Society in England. The terms of the accord were announced in Dublin in September 1996 at a press conference at which Vernon Pugh presided. Present at that conference was one Jeavons-Fellows. He told us the issue was resolved and all the problems were over.

Equate that with what happened over the last week. Once more the RFU tried to renege on the agreement. We heard talk about the French television deal and the advent of Italy to the championship next season. The French have always had their own television deal independent of the four Home Unions. It is likely that, in the future, they too will be embraced into a deal involving all nations, but that had nothing to do with the accord which the RFU representatives signed and thereby pledged their honour. Even as things stand England's home matches are not available live on the terrestrial channels as part of the deal they did with Sky could not be amended.

It was the RFU refusal to honour the accord that brought about their expulsion last week. We have had threats from the RFU in the past to bring the issue to the courts and to issue an injunction against the accord.

Alan Hosie, the chairman of the Five Nations Committee, and an honourable man, has stated that the accord has embraced in it all the clauses to deal with such matters as the realignment of the distribution of television revenue - say if France join the communal pool - and the admission of any new nations to the championship. The reality is that the RFU's actions were not sustainable.

That reality dawned on them during the week when the RFU chairman Brian Baister and Bill Beaumont, the former England captain met Hosie and yet again the RFU was forced to do a massive climb down and accept in its totality the legality of the accord.

By their actions the RFU has shamed itself yet again and held the game up to ridicule and once more revealed contempt for their colleagues. Nor was there any solace for them from the Southern Hemisphere as was made very clear by the chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union John O'Neill.

How about this for a track record over the last three years that should set the alarm bells ringing in Twickenham and throughout the game in England. They fought with the Five Nations Committee three years ago and lost. They have fought with and continue to do so with European Rugby CUP (ERC) and lost and continue to lose.

They fought with the International Board, have lost and been fined £60,000. They have fought again now with the Five Nations and lost again. They have fought amongst themselves - witness events last July at their annual general meeting. They signed the infamous Mayfair Agreement to placate the club owners, the track record of some of whom is there for all to see. Is it any wonder that people with a long-standing record in the game in England are utterly disgusted and disillusioned by what their union is doing?

Some of the statements made by their new chief executive, Francis Baron, earlier this week were truly incredible. "Put up or shut up" was his sage advice to Hosie and his fellow committee members. "What have we done that is wrong," asked Baron. That statement is surely mind boggling bearing in mind the facts.

They know now exactly what they did that was wrong. But perhaps within the context of that statement we can get to the heart of why exactly it is that we had the events of last week.

Syd Millar, one of Ireland's representatives on the International Board and one of the men who has stood up to the bully boys and gunboat "diplomats" who currently occupy Twickenham, has put matters into perspective. "There must be trust and integrity in the game. There are genuine English rugby men such as Fran Cotton and Bill Beaumont who are men of integrity. It is about time that the RFU had a good look at the people who have caused so much trouble in English rugby and elsewhere. It is time the game there was given back to the real rugby men and not surrendered to clubs run by soccer club owners, boxing and motor racing promoters and others of that kind."

Another week that was a sad indictment on what is happening in Twickenham, but at least we know that there are still people in the game who are prepared to fight for what is right. and see that agreements are honoured. The Celtic nations have been pilloried for doing no more than defending the integrity of an accord to which they appended their names and thereby pledged their honour.