Monday, July 6, 2009

Legal row could hit autumn Test

Welsh rugby
Welsh rugby is heading for fresh civil war

Wales' four rugby regions are set to take the Welsh Rugby Union to the High Court over player availability for Wales' first autumn Test.

Regional Rugby Wales claim the WRU have not been granted permission for player release for Wales' New Zealand game.

The 7 November fixture is outside the International Rugby Board's window and RRW, the regions' umbrella group, were granted an emergency hearing on Friday.

The WRU won a similar legal battle over player-release in November 2008.

Then the row centred over player-release for Wales' first November Test with world champions South Africa in Cardiff - a Test that was also outside the IRB window.

Wales coach Warren Gatland wanted his international stars available for national team training despite the four regions - the Ospreys, Dragons, Llanelli Scarlets and Cardiff Blues - preparing for crucial EDF Energy Cup games.

The WRU successfully took the regions to the High Court and the union said at the time: "Judge Havelock Allen QC recognised the Test match is the most important factor, not the politics."

Welsh rugby fans hoped a new participation agreement would prevent any further civil war between the union and the regions but RRW claim "despite months of protracted talks, at which very little has been achieved, a revised participation agreement has yet to emerge."

In a statement, The RRW also accuse Welsh rugby's governing body of "not wishing to entertain a formalised partnership" and claim the WRU "will not enjoin in any structured and binding partnership with Regional Rugby Wales."

RRW chief executive Stuart Gallacher, the former Scarlets chief executive, told BBC Sport: "We honestly believe that it has to be a partnership, not a sort of 'master-slave' relationship.

"The indication in all the correspondence from the WRU - from the executive in particular - is one that we cannot accept.

"The English clubs have their deal now with their union, the Rugby Football Union and the French I understand have just concluded their agreement with their union last week.

"Yet we seem miles apart in trying to achieve what we believe is an open and transparent partnership for the good of the professional game in Wales, indeed all the game.

"There is a stumbling block there and we believe that there is no appetite within the executive of the WRU to seek a transparent and open partnership.

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"This isn't just about money, this is about the relationship going forward over the next five years between the professional game in Wales, through Regional Rugby Wales, and the WRU.

"That's what this is about, it's not just about an isolated one-off international match, it is about the future and how we take the game forward - together hopefully - over the next five years."

RRW claim, in their statement, the WRU has "threatened to take the Welsh regions to court on a number of occasions following demands for the release of players that fall outside of the IRB regulations."

The regions also allege they consented to player release outside of the IRB window prior to the Six Nations and Wales' summer tour to North America "rather than see Welsh rugby suffer or Wales having to witness the spectacle of another court action."

But the RRW feel they have been "left with little option" than to start legal proceedings against the WRU after the governing body, the RRW claim, "invited the regions, in writing, to take legal action against the union if there is any objection."

Gallacher added: "There is always room for negotiation and that is what I and the regions hope will happen.

"But we have no alternative now but to seek redress through the courts, we put that into action today and we await now the response of the WRU."

The BBC has asked the WRU for its response to the regions' claims.

ะพ 3:18 AM

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