Schedule scrum
England fined $101,000 for unauthorized club games
Posted: Friday December 18, 1998 05:43 PM
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- International rugby union chiefs
have fined England 60,000 pounds (US$101,000) for "turning a
blind eye" to unauthorized friendly games this season between
English sides and rebel Welsh clubs Cardiff and Swansea.
On Thursday, the Welsh Rugby Union (WFU) fined Cardiff and
Swansea US$250,000 each for playing the games although the clubs
plan to contest the ruling.
The International Rugby Board (IRB), the sport's world
governing body, said on Friday the English Rugby Union (RFU) had
broken IRB rules by failing to take action against the clubs
involved.
The two Welsh clubs withdrew from the Welsh league and went
ahead with a series of friendly fixtures against English clubs
after a proposed British League failed to come to fruition this
season.
The IRB acknowledged that the RFU did not authorize the
games and did not appoint match officials.
But after a hearing on the case in Dublin, the governing
body added in a statement: "When the matches took place, it
turned what counsel (lawyer) for the RFU described as a
Nelsonian blind eye to the matches.
"The decision of the RFU not to seek to discipline any of
the clubs involved sends a clear message that the clubs may be
permitted to flout the rules of the RFU and of the IRB and this
impression...is plainly prejudicial to the interests of the
board and of the game."
The IRB said that it would recommend to its trust that the
60,000 pounds should be withheld from a grant which was due to
be paid to the RFU next month.
The RFU was clearly unhappy with the decision claiming the
committee was not impartial.
"We and our legal advisers remain firmly of the belief that
the whole process used by the IRB in this case to be
irretrievably flawed," RFU chief executive Francis Baron said.
"We are not prepared to let matters stand as they are and
we have advised the IRB disciplinary committee of this fact."
But the world body said it still felt the WRU had broken its
rules because it had accepted that some of the games would still
go ahead.
However, it added that the Welsh body had been motivated by
a desire to enforce its regulations and those of the IRB and
decided to postpone the question of a sanction until a further
hearing next September when the situation will be reviewed.
On another issue, the IRB did not announce a decision
regarding an appeal by England's leading clubs to the European
Commission which could decide who controls key parts of the
English game in the future.
English rugby officials were called to defend themselves in
Dublin against charges that they have lost control of their
clubs.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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