Rugby chiefs pass the buck on Pertemps Bees
By The Birmingham Post May 28 2008
Pertemps Bees’ future was still in the balance after an ‘unsatisfactory’ meeting about their future took place in Stoke-on-Trent on Tuesday night. First Division Rugby Ltd, the body responsible for deciding whether their result against Cornish Pirates should be overturned and therefore secure them the points that would keep them in National One, passed the buck back to the RFU.
Pertemps Bees’ future was still in the balance after an ‘unsatisfactory’ meeting about their future took place in Stoke-on-Trent on Tuesday night. First Division Rugby Ltd, the body responsible for deciding whether their result against Cornish Pirates should be overturned and therefore secure them the points that would keep them in National One, passed the buck back to the RFU.
Head coach Russell Earnshaw was at the hearing, five months after losing to the Cornishmen in a match that went to uncontested scrums at Sharmans Cross Road because the visitors failed to field appropriate front-row players.
Commenting on what he called an ‘unsatisfactory outcome’, Earnshaw said: “All we can say is that we are disappointed with the way the hearing went and we will proceed along the same channels as we have been.
“We have been given no indication as to when the next hearing will be.”
Bees ended the season relegated from National One and were hoping to get their status in the second tier of the rugby’s pyramid restored.
Their initial appeal over the result was returned by the RFU to FDR because it had failed to carry out a ‘valid review’ when the matter first came before them.
Now the decision is back in the hands of the RFU.
The argument appears simple: Bees, who hired a QC to fight their corner, believed they should be given four league points for the Pirates’ misdemeanour, which is what happened when Coventry fell into a similar trap against Rotherham three years ago, but when FDR originally ruled on the situation in February, they simply docked Pirates three points.
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