Leicester to Protest Ospreys 16 Man Error

Leicester have appointed a sports law firm to represent them in their protest against the Ospreys after the Welsh side fielded 16 men during their Heineken Cup encounter at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea.

Leicester filed a complaint following Lee Byrne’s 50 second appearance as the Ospreys 16th man following his return from the blood-bin after a dislocated and bloodied toe. Leicester believe they have just cause for taking this matter further as Byrne made a telling contribution to the match during his time as Ospreys 16th man,  thwarting an attack from the Tigers late in the game. The Leicester Tigers issued the following statement:

“The board has reviewed the footage and believe there is a clear case for concern…
The board has a duty to the club and the other teams in the competition to do everything in its power to help ERC [European Club Rugby] to determine, as fully and speedily as possible, who was responsible for a 16th player being on the pitch.
To that end, the club have lodged an official written complaint with ERC which they are now in the process of investigating….
Leicester Tigers chairman, Peter Tom CBE, is also writing to the chairman of ERC, Jean-Pierre Lux, to detail our concerns in respect of the incident, and the club has instructed a leading firm of sports law specialists to represent them in this matter.”

The IRB rulebook states:

“At any time before or during a match a team may make an objection to the referee about the number of players in their opponents’ team…
As soon as the referee knows that a team has too many players, the referee must order the captain of that team to reduce the number appropriately.
The score at the time of the objection remains unaltered. Sanction: Penalty at the place where the game would restart.”

The rules of the competition state that the result of the match cannot be altered. A similar incident occurred in the 2003 world cup when England fielded 16 players for a short period during their group match with Samoa. England were fined £10,000 for their discrepancy 7 years ago so the Ospreys should expect to be similarly punished.

Leicester rightly feel aggrieved by what happened during this match, after all, this was a crunch Heineken Cup fixture with the winner being awarded a place in the Quarter-Finals. However, there are too many ifs and buts surrounding the incident that can never be resolved. This is the very nature of sport, every effort is made to ensure that sporting competition is fair and that the result is only a reflection of the endeavor of competing players or teams… but this is not always possible and, on occasion, an incident will occur that will bring a result into disrepute. On these occasions, unless spectacularly unfair, the unlucky competitor must ‘man-up’ and take it on the chin – Just ask the Ireland Football Team!

The Leicester coach Richard Cockerill clearly shares this sentiment, stating after the game that “the incident was not key to the result… “I am sure the Ospreys didn’t do it purposely…We were beaten fair and square. I am a lover of the game, and I am sure it was a mistake by somebody”.

Sorry Leicester, but I think this is a case of better luck next time.