A Sports Law Rugby Blog
1. Introduction Since 2012, the Rugby Football Union (“RFU”) has operated a policy under which players playing for clubs outside of England cannot be selected to play for the England national team, save in exceptional circumstances (the “Policy”). It is…
Joe Marler’s two-week ban for verbally abusing Bristol Bears’ Jake Heenan in late December 2022 caused no shortage of controversy. Public opinion is split between those who found the ban too harsh, and those who thought it was too short.…
1. Introduction Following a dark two months, in which Premiership Rugby has lost two clubs to insolvency events, there may now be some light at the end of the tunnel. Both Worcester Warriors and Wasps have announced that takeover deals…
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…
On Friday 25 March 2022, Gloucester Rugby (“Gloucester”) was scheduled to host Worcester Warriors (“Worcester”) in the Gallagher Premiership (the “Match”). However, the Match was cancelled that afternoon because Worcester was unable to field six fit and able front row…
On 15 March 2022, Premiership Rugby announced that it had concluded its investigation into alleged breaches of the Salary Cap Regulations (the “Regulations”) by Leicester Tigers (the “Club”) between 2016 and 2021. The investigation, first announced in December 2021, found…
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…
Premiership clubs (the “Clubs”) are reportedly in a dispute with agents over the payment of agents’ fees. Traditionally, these have always been paid by the Clubs on behalf of players but, in June this year, the Clubs agreed to end…
On 21 June 2021, the RFU published the decision of its independent disciplinary panel (the “Panel”) to sanction Leicester Tigers hooker, Tom Youngs, for conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game, contrary to RFU Rule 5.12. The case arose…
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…
