Filed under: Rugby Union, Premiership
Exeter Chiefs have been deducted two Premiership points and fined £5,000 for fielding too many overseas players and although Leeds Carnegie may beg to differ, the Rugby Football Union's (RFU) decision is just about right.Many administration bodies often jump on transgressions by sports clubs as a chance to flex their muscles, "set an example" or "forge a precedent" so that their errors are not followed by others.
However, in this case, the RFU has it spot on.
Chiefs have faced sanction because they played with three overseas players when they lost 27-22 to Leeds at Headingley earlier this month.
Nemani Nadolo (Australia) was included alongside Hoani Tui (New Zealand) and Ignacio Mieres (Argentina). Nadolo, who is Fijian, used an Australian passport when he applied for a work visa at the start of they year because that was where he grew up.
As a Fijian, he would have been exempt from the Premiership's overseas rule so it is merely a case of a paperwork mishap rather than any malicious attempt by the Chiefs to gain a competitive edge.
A possible 10-point deduction could have been on the cards but the RFU have rightly acknowledged that that would be far too harsh a punishment for what amounts to an honest mistake.
The head of the RFU panel Judge Blackett said: "The panel accepted that there was no intention to gain advantage by selecting more than two foreign players in their matchday squad and that this was an internal administrative error involving a failure of the administrator to inform the playing side that the player was foreign.
"There is an increasing incidence of poor administration and a deterrent sanction is required to prevent further incidents.
"Administrative errors such as these are a serious breach of regulations and potentially undermine the integrity of the competition."
The Chiefs have also played their full part in ensuring they did not suffer a more draconian offence by being completely open and transparent in accepting they had made a mistake.
Unlike Harlequins, who brought such disgrace on themselves and the game of Rugby Union during the "Bloodgate" affair, by attempting to disguise their actions, the Chiefs have held their hands up from the very start and that is bound to have been viewed in a positive light.
Head Coach Rob Baxter told the Guardian recently: "It has been frustrating.
"We have worked very hard this season and I have already spoken to the players to apologise to them.
"Anything that means that points we have worked and fought hard for could get taken away from the club is very frustrating for them.
"It's nothing to do with the players at all. They have worked extremely hard and done everything we've asked them to do. Behind the scenes we've let them down a little bit.
"If you think that you play and work hard and you've got the club in a position where they are safe, and then someone comes along and says you might be getting a points deduction, but we don't quite know how much it will be, that is going to cause a small distraction."
So then, on this occasion, we have a sports team that knows it has done wrong and we have a governing body that has rightly accepted their apology and explanation.
And although bottom club Leeds would have liked to have seen more points taken off the Chiefs in order to extend their Premiership lifeline, the West Country side has received the punishment it deserves - and no more.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/04/28/common-sense-prevails-as-exeter-chiefs-docked-points-by-rfu/
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