Former England footballer Matt Cairns was recently handed a 12-match ban following his behavior towards match officials during Caldy's Championship defeat to Doncaster Knights. The 45-year-old, who won his only Test match away to South Africa in 2007, coached the Wirral club to impressive promotion two seasons ago.
They finished 10th last season in their first ever season in the Championship, winning seven of their 22 matches in the 12-team league. This season, wins have been more difficult to come by as Caldy have managed just four in 17 matches.
Their last home defeat came to leaders Ealing on April 17, a game Cairns did not participate in due to what happened the previous Sunday when Caldy were beaten 7-29 away to Doncaster.
He was charged with conduct prejudicial to the interests of the association and/or the game and the ensuing disciplinary hearing on 17 April resulted in a 12-match ban for the former Harlequins, Northampton Saints, Sale Sharks and Saracens striker.
The full written judgment from the hearing has since been added to the disciplinary section of the RFU website, and the 15-page report, which included a victim impact statement from match referee Michael Hudson, made for quite detailed reading.
A former England international led a diverse team of teachers, fund managers, engineers, pharmacists and students on the second England trip.
This is the wonderful story of @CaldyRFC – As it was said to @heagneyl ???? by @matt_cairns2 @Champrugby #ICYMIhttps://t.co/8K0CC6zcl0
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 26, 2022
In finding Cairns guilty of harmful conduct, the Disciplinary Hearing Panel decided that the appropriate punishment was a period of suspension as coach on match day plus the former player having to undertake restorative work in exchange for an element of his punishment. hanging.
The ruling read: “For the next 12 matches of significance, Mr Cairns is prohibited from attending any rugby club at which any of Caldy RFC’s senior teams play; including all private and public areas, whether rugby activities are conducted within those areas or no.
“and 2) for the next 12 matches of significance, Mr Cairns is prohibited from performing any match day rugby activity associated with any men’s or women’s senior rugby team, including, but not limited to: A. Coaching of any kind (including b. travel with the team; and c.
“If, on or before Monday 9 September, Mr Cairns sends to the Head of Disciplinary Department of the RFU satisfactory evidence that he has officiated at least three full matches of the rugby age group (players aged from U16 to U12 years and individual matches (at least 30 minutes in duration), and that he has completed at least two hours of additional referee training provided by the RFU or the National Referees Association, then the final four weeks of Sanctions 1 and 2 will be suspended until all matters have been completed Disciplinary penalties in the 2024/25 season.”
In a victim impact statement issued by referee Hudson, who has been involved in the professional game for eight years, it was explained: “I do not believe I have ever been part of an official abuse incident like this before.
“Having my integrity questioned is hurtful. To suggest that I favored one team over another for any reason, is truly damaging – both from a reputational perspective and from a personal perspective. To have my performance publicly described as incompetent in front of spectators is also hurtful, especially from a man.” He has as much prominence in the game as former England international Matt Cairns.
“But I came out of the game on Sunday evening with a huge feeling of disappointment. The disappointment was that the game was dominated by the coach’s behavior and attitude, not anything else.
“After thinking about it at length over the next 48 hours, I'm actually quite angry… It has gradually become clear to me in our review discussions that almost every one of the incidents in which Matt Cairns was angry and exploded over – in-match and post-match – We felt that the decisions were indeed correct. There is no excuse for official abuse of the match at all.
“I'm sympathetic enough to see that officials' mistakes – if they are mistakes – can cause understandable frustration for coaches. But when the abuse is on the touchline as it was on Sunday, even then those 'controversial' decisions are in the process of being reviewed in the light of day.” “Then the frustration turns into anger.”
- Click here to read the 15-page written ruling from Matt Cairns' disciplinary hearing
