Rugby Football Championship Rules - illegal player - complaint received too late to trigger penalties and demotion

Hearn and Anr v Rugby Football Union and Anr: ChD (Mr Justice Pumfrey): 26 August 2003

Nuneaton Rugby Football Club, the second defendant, was promoted to Northern League 2 after a season in which it played a Tongan national, who was subject to immigration control, as a amateur.

The Tongan's work permit was granted for him to play for Coventry and stated that he should notify the Home Office of any changes in his situation.

He failed to do so on his move to Nuneaton.

At the beginning of the 2002-2003 season, Nuneaton registered him with the Rugby Football Union as a new player, certifying that the club and player had conformed to UK immigration law.

New Brighton Football Club (Rugby Union), represented by the first and second claimants, a club which had played in the same league as Nuneaton, discovered that Nuneaton had possibly played an illegal player and sought a declaration that Nuneaton supplied incorrect information to the Rugby Football Union, with the result that the registration of the Tongan national was invalidated and that minimum mandatory penalties involving the deduction of points should be applied to Nuneaton resulting in their relegation in the league and New Brighton's promotion.

Nicholas Stewart QC and Garry Herbert (instructed by Bullivant Jones, Liverpool) for the claimants; Michael Beloff QC (instructed by Denton Wilde Sapte) for the first defendant; David Worster (instructed by Lester, Dixon & Jeffcoate, Nuneaton) for the second defendant.

Held, refusing the application, that the role of the courts in respect of league rules, which were based on a contractual relationship between the union and its member clubs, was essentially supervisory; that points could only be deducted from clubs' scores where the proper complaints procedure had been followed; that, by regulation 20 of the English Clubs Championship Regulations 2002/3, a complaint had to be notified to the Rugby Football Union within 48 hours of the facts becoming known; that a club's entitlement to be promoted became indefeasible as at the end of the season because there was a need for finality in promotions and the overall disruption to the league would otherwise be substantial; and that everything had been in due form in respect of Nuneaton at the end of the season when it was promoted since New Brighton had failed to make its complaint in time.