A Sports Law Rugby Blog
Following the winding up of WRFC Players Limited on 5 October 2022, the RFU announced that Worcester Warriors (“Worcester”, the “Club”) would be suspended from the remainder of the 2022/23 Premiership Rugby season, and would then be relegated to the…
A Spanish version of this article has been published on the website, 'A Palos'. Una versión española de este artículo se ha publicado en el sitio web, 'A Palos'. 1. Introduction Despite the hopes of Spanish players and fans, an independent World…
1. Introduction Spain have been disqualified from the Rugby World Cup for the second time consecutively after a World Rugby Judicial Committee (the “Panel”) found that they had fielded an ineligible player during qualifying…again. The country’s hopes for France 2023…
On 1 March 2022, the RFU announced that no Championship club had met the Minimum Standards Criteria for entry to the Premiership ahead of the 2022/23 season. As such, the winner of the Championship this year will not be promoted…
On 17 November 2021, the long-awaited decision in the World Rugby misconduct case against Springbok Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, and the South Africa Rugby Union (“SARU”) was published (the “Decision”). The case relates to the infamous 62-minute video (available…
Zander Fagerson’s ban during the 2021 Six Nations has caused widespread controversy. Fans and commentators have been outraged by the fact he was sent off, by the length of his ban, and by the matches for which he has been…
On 11 February, Jonathan Joseph, Elliott Stooke and Gabriel Oghre were sanctioned by the RFU for breaching the UK Government’s COVID-19 regulations and rugby’s COVID-19 Minimum Operating Standards. In what is now rugby’s second COVID-19 disciplinary case (see previously the…
In May 2019, World Rugby published its Decision-Making Framework for High Tackles (the “Framework”). It was intended as a “systematic tool” to guide decision-making by referees, citing commissioners and disciplinary panels as to the appropriate sanction for potential acts of…
Rugby’s disciplinary process has come in for a lot of criticism this week; much of it undeserved. The controversies of Owen Farrell’s high tackle and the punch-up between Siale Piutau and Andrew Kitchener in the Gallagher Premiership have dominated the…
Plymouth Albion Rugby Football Club (the “Club”) of National League 1 has hit the rugby press over the past few weeks after being hit with a heavy disciplinary sanction by the RFU. On 26 May 2020, an RFU Appeal Panel…
