SRU admit they are to blame for communication breakdown

KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer September 27 2005

The SRU has admitted the problems that have led to Melrose calling for the replay of their match with BT Premier Division One leaders Glasgow Hawks were their fault.
In taking the blame, a Murray-field spokesman also acknowl-edged that linking the issue to problems with the new online registration scheme, as has hap-pened in communications with the two clubs, was a red herring.
"There have been problems with the new version of the online registration system and for that we apologise to club. We are working to resolve any outstanding issues," he said.
"However, the specific issue of Nick Cox, the Glasgow Hawks player, predates the 'updating' of the online system."
The spokesman admitted that the real error predated those technological problems and centred on the SRU sending out a registration card for Cox. "For that reason, Hugh Barrow (the Hawks secretary) assumed that having got this card, everything was in order," said the spokesman, who added that attempts will be made in future to link the domestic registration scheme to international clearance so that potential problems are highlighted.
That may help in future but since the two are not currently linked it does not explain why the championship committee reached its decision not to take action against Hawks on this occasion.
While Melrose has no formal right of appeal, the SRU spokesman said the champion-ship committee would be prepared to reconsider that.
Clubs have been told in the past that ignorance, presumption and assumption are not enough when the SRU's officious championship and disciplinary committees have issued pedantic judgments and applied hefty sanctions.
That is almost certainly why several clubs who were uncertain of situations surrounding players chose not to field them in early season.
Previously teams have been docked points for fielding un-registered players even when those players are homegrown products of their own clubs. The championship committee must now decide whether the only blunders that do not see them insist on rigorous application of the rules are those made by their own officials

This article was posted on 27-Sep-2005, 07:41 by Hugh Barrow.