Rugby News

Stiffer new penalties for misconduct on the pitch will be introduced to Ireland in September if a disciplinary conference scheduled for Paris goes as expected. The International Rugby Board (IRB) are expected to direct the IRFU and the other home unions to introduce measures that will allow them ban players for several years, or even life.

The new rules will allow the doubling of bans for offences such as punching, biting or kicking. Next month, when the Celtic League and All-Ireland leagues begin, players could face a year's ban for what would in the past have been considered a routine punching offence.

Already the chief executive of the Professional Rugby Players' Association in England, Damian Hopley, has expressed grave concerns over what he sees as the IRB using a sledgehammer to crack a nut and believes because some of the measures are so draconian lawyers will inevitably become involved and the sport will become a legal battleground.

The IRFU are more restrained.

"We will be attending the disciplinary conference in Paris in September and this will be discussed," said IRFU rugby administrator Gordon Black yesterday. "I'm pretty certain we will be instructed to use the sanctioning policies. Nothing happens until then. Afterwards, I will be writing to each branch and will be giving them a copy of the document and will be saying to them 'this is the way to run the disciplinary sanctions'. The interpretation of them is the most important thing."

The harsher punishments came into effect for international, European Heineken Cup and Celtic League games on January 1st this year, but from September they are likely to apply to all rugby governed by the IRFU.

The new code is not inflexible but will greatly increase the likelihood of players being banned for long periods. Last season a DLSP player was banned for 10 years for attacking a referee, an offence that could soon draw down a life ban.

Biting could be punished by a three-year ban while testicle squeezing and gouging may mean a two-year ban.

"Until we have a test case, we will have to hold fire," said Black on the legal implications of the new laws. "However, if a sport is well administered then the courts are generally not terribly interested in getting involved. But we must also consider that in many instances we are talking about professional rugby players. It is their livelihood . . . If a player were to be banned for two years, they are likely to try every conceivable way to have it thrown out."

Part of the thinking behind the stiffer measures seems to be that throwing the book at one or two players would send out the right message and clean up the game. For that to happen, unions would have to be on very firm ground, with video footage a probable requirement.

As an example of how the new sanctions will work, following last season's English Premiership final, Leicester's Neil Back was given a four-week ban for punching Wasps flanker Joe Worsley. Under the new system, Back could be out of the game for 12 months.

Proposed IRBSanctions

Physical abuse of match official: Life ban

Threatening match official: 3 yrs

Biting: 6 mths to three years

Punching: 3 to 12 months

Testicle grabbing: Max two-year ban

Gouging: Max two-year ban

Punching, butting, stamping: Max 1 year

Stiff-arm tackle: Max 6 months

Verbal abuse: Max 6 months