England coach Eddie Jones says while he used to spy on opposition teams, he doesn’t do it any more.
This follows Leeds United football manager Marcelo Bielsa’s recent admission that he had spied on Championship rival clubs all season.
‘Fifteen years ago, we used to send people out in costumes to watch training – it used to be part of the pre-match brief then,’ Jones told The Guardian. ‘I can remember sending a coach who is now in a very senior position dressed like a swagman to watch one team train and he got chased out of there.
‘You do not need to do it now because you see everything now in a game.
‘I have been coaching for 20 years and it has always been going on, but I can say with a hand on my heart we don’t do it any more. We don’t see the value of it because we can glean most of the stuff from games now.’
Jones told the newspaper spying could be an issue during this year’s World Cup in Japan, given the prevalence of high-rise buildings around training grounds, but said he hoped such tactics were a thing of the past in the sport.
‘We will have the security we need, but I don’t want to get to the extent where we go to the team room and we’re putting Blu Tack on the keyhole or looking under seats for tape recorders. It creates a sense of paranoia.’
