The curious case of Tyson Keats

The folk at London Welsh are apparently “hugely disappointed and shocked” after receiving a five-point deduction and a £15k fine for fielding an ineligible player, Tyson Keats, for 10 games this season.

I reckon they got off lightly, given that New Zealand-born Keats was fraudulently registered as a UK born player with the RFU by Welsh’s former team manager Mike Scott who, in an attempt to cover his tracks, provided the RFU with falsified documents over a period of time including a forged copy of a UK passport.

Welsh claim that they were “unknowingly the victim of one individual’s fraudulent conduct” but when that individual happens to be an employee, and a relatively senior employee at that, I’m afraid that they’re bang to rights.

At least a 5 point deduction (with a further 5 points deferred to next season) gives them a fighting chance of avoiding relegation.

Mark my words...

...it will all end in tears.

Justice

The decision by the RFU appeals panel on Friday to promote London Welsh to the Premiership (at the expense of Newcastle) is being hailed as a victory for common sense - in many ways rightly so.

There's no doubt that justice has belatedly been done, but a note of caution - having been in administration only 3 short years years ago, London Welsh now face challenging times financially as they seek to survive in a hugely competitive league.

And rumours that they may be interested in recruiting The Artist Formerly Known As Gavin Church hardly fills this writer with huge confidence.

The dragon before the cartel...

The decision to deny London Welsh promotion to the Premiership (should they complete victory over Cornish Pirates) sits rather uneasily with me.

One the one hand I am firmly of the opinion that the professional game simply cannot support 24 professional clubs in the Premiership and Championship (and, indeed, it's not that long ago that London Welsh were in administration) and I remain unconvinced that promotion and relegation in its current form is a sustainable model going forward (despite the utterly convincing case presented by Exeter).

On the other hand it is becoming increasingly obvious that there is now a cartel of self-interested Premiership (and a couple of Championship) clubs who receive favourable treatment and disproportionate RFU funding designed to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Not only are the majority of these clubs still unprofitable (despite the huge financial advantages they enjoy), many do not even meet their own criteria for being in the Premiership, a point that hasn’t gone unnoticed by London Welsh.

That Exeter have somehow managed to gatecrash this party is nothing short of miraculous. Whether London Welsh manage to do the same remains to be seen. History, sadly, would suggest not.