Xodus Wasps chairman Craig Gibson insists the club will take their case to the International Rugby Board if their Dh10,000 fine for failing to send a member of staff on a medical course is upheld by the UAE Rugby Federation.
The Dubai club were hit with the sanction after the UAERF said it had failed to officially respond to the federation’s “correspondence to explain non-attendance”.
Gibson, however, told Sport360° he had explained to the federation at the time that the three days the club was given to respond was insufficient as it had already begun its own internal investigation, but he claimed the UAERF ignored him. He also believes the club has “no case to answer”.
“The fine seems like a random number, I’m not sure how they came up with it, but Dh10,000 is a lot of money for a club like Xodus Wasps,” said Gibson.
“We will contact the federation and send our apologies and express our regret that we couldn’t attend, but if that isn’t accepted then we will take it higher and go to the IRB if needed. I think we’ll be compelled to do that.”
Gibson admitted the club would have benefitted from sending a staff member to the IRB Superweek Accredited Medical Course – Level 1, which was held in Dubai on September 13, but that their absence was unavoidable.
He revealed it was actually Wasps head coach Darrell McEwen who could not attend the course.
He said: “Darrell had a genuine personal reason for missing the course and unfortunately it was last minute so we couldn’t find a replacement to go instead of him.
“We have completed an internal review and Darrell has not been reprimanded, which we would have done if he’d failed to show up without a genuine reason, but there was no reason to punish him internally so we find it difficult to understand why we’re being reprimanded externally.
"It would have been more serious if we were being negligent and player safety was a concern, but we have sufficient medical cover at every home game, we have a partnership with physiotherapists at games and player safety has never been compromised before.
“This isn’t something we deserve to be punished for in light of the standard of medical care we provide and professionals we have on standby at our home games.”
Gibson said the club’s stance had been backed by fellow Sport360° UAE Premiership clubs, adding: “I’m heartened by the support we’ve received from the chairmen of other clubs.”
As for the fine, Gibson added: “I’ve been speaking with the other chairmen and none of us are aware of there ever being a fine levied on any other UAE club.”
Sport360° tried to contact UAERF secretary general Qais Al Dhalai to corroborate this, but he was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.
