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The Full Written Decision Can Be Accessed Here WORLD RUGBY Judicial and Disputes Committee into complaints relating to a match on 18 March 2018 and the eligibility of players for the Rugby World Cup Qualifying Competition Venue: The Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington Date: Thursday 10th May 2018 Panel: Sir James Dingemans, Lex Mpati, Sir Peter Fraser Secretary: Joyce Hayes Attending: World Rugby: Alistair MacLean (General Counsel); Yvonne Nolan (Senior Legal Counsel); and David Carrigy (Head of Development and International Relations); Rugby Europe: Jean-Jacques Zander (Head of the Legal Committee); Federación Española de Rugby (“Spain”): Alfonso Feijoo (President); Eliseo Patrón-Costas (General Secretary); Jose Epalza (Vice-President); Donal Spring (Counsel, Daniel Spring & Company); Barra O’Sullivan (Counsel, Daniel Spring & Company); and Jamie Spring (Counsel, Daniel Spring & Company); Rugby Union of Russia (“Russia”): Kirill Yashenkov (Vice-President); Kirill Kulemin (High Performance Manager); and Vasily Artemyev, Captain of Russian team; Fédération Belge de Rugby (“Belgium”): Salvatore Zandona (President); Federatia Romana de Rugby (“Romania”): Alin Petrache (President); Bogdan Muntean (High Performance Manager); and Dan Cristea (Counsel). Decision Introduction 1. There was a Rugby World Cup Qualifier (“RWCQ”) tournament for the Rugby World Cup 2019 (“RWC 2019”). This was played alongside and as part of the Rugby Europe Championship organised by Rugby Europe, although the position of Georgia was ignored for the RWCQ tournament because Georgia had already qualified for the RWC 2019 by reason of their finishing position in the pool stages of RWC 2015. 2. In one of the final matches Spain were playing Belgium in Belgium. If Spain won they would qualify. If Spain lost Romania, who were then in second place 180515 RWC 2019 Qualification Dispute - Judgment Page 1 of 20 in the table (behind Georgia) would qualify. A Romanian match official team had been appointed to officiate at the match. When the mathematics of the qualification process became clear Spain asked Rugby Europe to change the refereeing team. An official at Rugby Europe spoke with the proposed referee who confirmed that he was still content to referee the match. No change was made to the match officials. 3. The match was played on 18 March 2018 and Belgium won the match by a score of 18-10. Controversy arose about the performance of the referee, and issues were also raised by Spain about the dimensions of the pitch and the absence of what is referred to as a captain’s run (which is a training session using the match pitch). Belgium highlighted that the performance of their team had been good and said that Spain had not played well for the majority of the match. Arrangements for the captain’s run had changed at the last minute because a football match had meant that the facilities were no longer available. 4. Spain complained to World Rugby about the performance of the referee, the failure to replace the referee and the other matters pursuant to section 13.1 of the RWCQ Terms of Participation (“TOP”). The Rugby World Cup Competitions Manager referred the dispute to a Disputes Committee pursuant to section 13.3 of the TOP. 5. World Rugby’s Independent Judicial Panel Chairman appointed the Panel to be the Disputes Committee. 6. In the meantime, World Rugby received complaints that various countries in the RWCQ tournament had fielded players who were not eligible to play either because there was no qualifying connection with the particular country, or because the player had already been “captured” by playing for another country. Issues were raised in relation to players from: Belgium; Spain; Romania; Russia and Germany. These issues required to be determined under Regulation 8 of the World Rugby Regulations. 7. World Rugby made various inquiries with the relevant Unions. In the event a Judicial Committee was required to adjudicate on the cases. The Panel were therefore also appointed by the Independent Judicial Panel Chairman to be a 180515 RWC 2019 Qualification Dispute - Judgment Page 2 of 20 Judicial Committee. The Panel therefore became a joint Disputes and Judicial Committee. Procedure 8. All the relevant parties agreed to the appointment of the Panel as a Joint Disputes and Judicial Committee. The Panel gave directions providing for World Rugby and the relevant Unions to file and serve a round of submissions and to reply to the submissions filed by the other parties. In its reply submissions World Rugby made detailed submissions about points deductions for ineligible players and identified the mathematical consequences of those deductions. The Unions were given an opportunity to respond to those distinct submissions and they did so. 9. The Unions were given an opportunity to ask for an oral hearing, and the Unions did so. Arrangements were made and the hearing was listed for the evening of Thursday 10 May 2018. A draft timetable for the oral submissions was circulated. The hearing took place on 10 May 2018 in London and World Rugby, Rugby Europe and the Unions made oral submissions. 10. The Panel is very grateful to World Rugby, Rugby Europe, Spain, Russia, Belgium and Romania for all of their assistance at the hearing and for the excellent written and oral submissions. The dispute relating to Belgium v Spain Match on 18 March 2018 The Panel has jurisdiction to set aside the result of the match 11. As noted above the qualification process for RWC 2019 is governed by the RWCQ TOP, the agreement that all Unions seeking to qualify for RWC signed. It is a condition of participation for any Union who seeks to qualify through the Qualification Process that the TOP is signed, demonstrating acceptance of its terms. 12. The TOP has within it a separate and free-standing disputes section, “Section 13 Disputes”. It is under this that the Panel was appointed as the Disputes Committee to deal with the RWCQ dispute. The disputes provisions within section 13 of TOP are in addition to the provisions of the World Rugby Regulations. 180515 RWC 2019 Qualification Dispute - Judgment Page 3 of 20 13. Section 13.1 of TOP gives the Rugby World Cup Ltd (“RWCL”) Competition Operations Manager the ability to refer “any complaint and/or dispute” to the Disputes Committee. This clause states: “13.1 Where the RWCL Competitions Operations Manager (or the relevant Regional Association as applicable) considers, in his or its absolute discretion, that any complaint and/or dispute is of a nature which is appropriate to be referred to the Disputes Committee, then he may refer such matter to the Disputes Committee for determination by the Disputes Committee in accordance with Section 13.3 below.” 14. The Disputes Committee was appointed under section 13.3 of the TOP. That states at Section 13.3.3 “Powers and functions” as follows: “(a) In relation to any dispute referred to the Disputes Committee, the Disputes Committee shall have power to determine all issues of any nature arising in connection with the conduct of the Qualification Process, including (but not limited to) disputes, disagreements or the interpretation or performance of these Terms of Participation between and among Participating Unions, Host Unions, World Rugby, Team Members, Referees, and all other persons, institutions and companies involved in the Qualification Process. (b) The Disputes Committee may also carry out the following functions: (i) to exercise such other powers as may be necessary and/or incidental to those set out herein, and/or (ii) to hear and decide such other matters as RWCL may from time to time refer to the Disputes Committee for adjudication.” 15. The sanctions available to the Disputes Committee are identified at Section 13.3.5(a), headed “Sanctions”, and listed at items (i) to (vii). These include the following: “(v) to cancel and/or vary the result of a Match and/or the points awarded in relation thereto; and (vii) to impose such other punishment, penalty, restriction or other terms as it considers to be an appropriate sanction in the circumstances”. 16. The letter of appointment from World Rugby to the Disputes Committee dated 11 April 2018 in relation to the RWCQ tournament referred the Belgium v Spain dispute to the Panel for resolution. This reference was done jointly with reference to the Judicial Committee of the eligibility issues under Regulation 8 of the World Rugby Regulations. The joint reference was done for the reasons explained in the letter of appointment, namely transparency and in the interests of resolving all matters of dispute in one clear process. On page 2 of the letter of 180515 RWC 2019 Qualification Dispute - Judgment Page 4 of 20 appointment of 11 April 2018, the dispute in respect of the Match was identified in the following terms. “On 18 March 2018, Belgium played against Spain in the Rugby Europe Championship (the “Match”). The teams’ participation in the Match was subject to the Participation Agreement for that tournament…. The Match also served as part of the Rugby World Cup 2019 (“RWC 2019”) Qualification Process and as stated above, was subject to the Rugby World Cup Qualifier TOP. On 20 March 2018, the Federacion Espanola de Rugby (the “FER”) wrote to World Rugby and Rugby Europe setting out a dispute in respect of the Match….and seeking various remedies, inter alia, the suspension of a decision on the team which qualified for RWC 2019 from the Rugby Europe Championship, a declaration that the result of the Match is null and void and a replay of the Match to be officiated by match officials from Unions other than Spain, Belgium or Romania.” 17. Further details of the dispute are also provided, including a summary of the five bullet points raised as issues by Spain in what the letter of appointment defined as the “FER Letter of Dispute” dated 20 March 2018.
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