A Sports Law Rugby Blog
Steve Diamond has received a six-week ban for verbally abusing Match Officials following Newcastle Falcons’ Premiership match against Exeter Chiefs, on 29 March 2025. The Falcons’ director of rugby is no stranger to rugby’s disciplinary system, having previously received several…
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…
As of 1 January 2022, important changes were made to World Rugby’s disciplinary regulations (Regulation 17), in relation to the sanctioning of acts of foul play. This article will focus on two of those changes, which are of particular significance…
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…
1. Introduction This article is the third in a series of articles on the ongoing concussion litigation in rugby union, which was instigated in December 2020 by a group of former professional players against the Rugby Football Union (“RFU”), the…
