Rugby Football Union removes Mike Tindall from England squad; fines Chris Ashton and James Haskell
The governing body of the Rugby Union in England, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), has dropped Mike Tindall from England’s line-up and handed over fines to Chris Ashton and James Haskell. The decision was taken by the RFU’s disciplinary committee after investigating the England team’s action during the recently concluded 2011 Rugby World Cup.
England mase an exit from the global tournament following their quarter-final defeat at the hands of their European Rivals, France. Union officials have announced the decision of the panel in a statement released on their official website on Friday, November 11.
Mike Tindall, Chris Ashton, James Haskell and Dylan Hartley appeared in RFU’s disciplinary panel comprising of RFU’s professional Rugby Director, Rob Andrew and RFU’s Governance Director Karena Vleck on Friday, November 11.
Speaking on the occasion, Andrew said, “We have considered all the evidence carefully and interviewed the players at length. These actions have not been taken lightly but we believe that in all these cases the sanctions are commensurate with the level of seriousness of what occurred.”
The panel has dropped Mike Tindall from the squad and terminated his Elite Player Squad (EPS) agreement for his actions and language used with a girl in and outside a club in Queenstown during the night of Sunday, September 11, 2011.
Andrew acknowledged Tindall’s overall good attitude and moral character but denied any leniency on his actions during his infamous night out during the World Cup. In addition to dropping him from the team, the panel has handed over an additional fine of £25,000 to Gloucester Rugby’s centre, Tindall.
Besides this, the panel has also investigated the Dunedin event in which Ashton, Hartley and Haskell were charged with wrong-doing with a member of the hotel staff, Annabel Newton, on Friday, September 9, 2011.
Andrew confirmed that the panel did not find any evidence of the players’ involvement or intention to sexually harass Annabel Newton. The panel has cleared Hartley from all allegations while handed over a fine of £5,000 to Ashton and Haskell. He added that the players conduct will be closely monitored until December 31, 2012 and any violation of the contract will forces fines to become due.
Andrew further added, “We do not believe the players had any intention to sexually harass or intimidate Ms Newton. However, the incident is precisely the kind of dangerous, compromising situation the players were warned about prior to departure for New Zealand and that they were specifically told to avoid in the EPS Code of Conduct.”
The players have the right to appeal to RFU acting Chief Executive Officer against the penalties delivered by RFU’s disciplinary panel in the form of termination of contract and fines for their wrong doings during the 2011 World Cup tournament.
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