Illegal player ruling puts Marist out of semifinals

Marist are no longer a contender for the 2010 Wairarapa-Bush premier division rugby championship.
Their aspirations were dealt a life-ending blow when news broke yesterday of the NZRFU judiciary overturning a decision from a WBRFU appeals committee not to penalise them 14 competition points for including a non-transferred player in their line-up for the first three games of the current season.
Those points have now been taken from Marist and the four points for a win transferred to the teams they beat in those particular matches, Puketoi (48-6), Eketahuna (29-19) and Masterton Red Star (8-0).
So from sitting second on the points table leading into the last two of the preliminary round matches with 54 points, Marist now find themselves on 40, too far behind Carterton (61), Masterton Red Star (57) Eketahuna (56) and East Coast (51) to make it into the semifinals be to be played on July 24.
The NZRFU judiciary committee ruling also means Marist will no longer hold the Chris Kapene Memorial Cup for being the top team at the end of one complete round of premier division matches. That trophy will go to the previous joint holders, Masterton Red Star, who are also likely to receive the $1000 which goes with it.
Ironically it was two of the clubs who benefit most from Marist's fate _ Eketahuna and East Coast _ who first protested at their playing a player who had not been transferred from his previous club.
Marist's demise means they are both now certain to make the semis, not that they were aware of that at the time of their protest.
Their complaint was initially heard by a sub-committee appointed by the WBFRU's council of clubs, who decided to take the 14 competition points from Marist, but their ruling was overturned when Marist appealed it before a three-person appeals committee. The latter also allowed Marist to retain the Chris Kapene Cup, but not the $1000 which went with it. It was to revert to the council for clubs to utilise as they saw fit.
The appeals committee took the view the punishment did not fit the nature of the crime.
''Under the current circumstances the blanket application of the punishment to strip Marist of their points would be unfair ... this appeals committee feels that the team and players would be punished rather than the club who, after all, should take some responsibility for the failure to follow the transfer rules correctly,'' they wrote.
That, however, was not the end of the controversy, with the Eketahuna club deciding to take the matter a stage further by lodging an appeal with the NZRFU judiciary, which came down in favour of the original penalty being imposed.