Ricky to land Ospreys in trouble?
24 Feb 2010
The Ospreys could be knocked out of the European Cup as there is an investigation into Ricky Januarie’s contract with the Welsh club.
The Stormers scrumhalf played for the club in four matches in the competition, and Premier Rugby – the umbrella organisation for all 12 Premiership clubs, including Leicester – queried Januarie’s eligibility with officials at European Rugby Cup (ERC), the Heineken Cup organisers. They have launched an investigation into the matter.
Teams can add one player to their European Cup squad during the tournament’s pool stages, but tournament rules state he must have at least a three-month contract with the club. The Guardian reports that it is alleged that Januarie only had a two month deal.
‘We were contacted by ERC last month as, we believe, were a number of other clubs, to clarify certain issues around the registration of players in this season’s European competitions, in our case regarding Ricky Januarie,’ said an Ospreys spokesperson.
‘We are co-operating fully with ERC, providing them with all the relevant paperwork relating to Ricky’s transfer and registration, and believe that all our actions comply implicitly with tournament regulations.
‘We would reiterate that this is not solely an Ospreys issue,’ said the spokesperson, possibly alluding to Wian du Preez’s Munster stint, as he was also overseas for two months.
‘It is our understanding that ERC have also made contact with a number of other clubs regarding the issue of registration.’
If the Ospreys are expelled Leicester would move up into the eighth seed spot with Northampton, currently England’s lone representative in the last eight, promoted to seventh.
That would have the knock-on effect of forcing two quarter-finals to be rescheduled with Leicester taking on Munster instead of Northampton, who would step into the Ospreys’ place as Biarritz’s opponents.
15 Comments
24 Feb 2010, 15:32 pm
hardly Ricky’s fault…
24 Feb 2010, 16:03 pm
He probably refused any deal if it was legal! Just not his style.
24 Feb 2010, 16:23 pm
@Mongril:
If Ricky was involved…Ospreys are probably in trouble
24 Feb 2010, 17:52 pm
If there is really a problem they can just send Frikkie Erasmus over to sort out the mess – he will find something in the small print.
24 Feb 2010, 18:11 pm
Even when Ricky does nothing wrong he sometimes causes trouble.
Community service for the Osprey management
24 Feb 2010, 18:23 pm
It is impossible for the Ospreys to be guilty. It would have taken them at least 2 months to get Ricky match fit. After that he played four matches. That adds up to 3 months to me.
24 Feb 2010, 19:01 pm
Lesson learned?
24 Feb 2010, 19:04 pm
My hunch is that Ricky couldn’t provide a Police Clearance in time, there is no clean end when you hold on a ****
24 Feb 2010, 20:23 pm
Leicester really clutching at straws. What next, if that does not work?
24 Feb 2010, 20:37 pm
@Hondo: that is rich, coming from the biggest **** on this blog…
24 Feb 2010, 20:42 pm
@Transformation:
Wow!
Just been back from the skwoterkmp shibin?
How did the youth league meeting went?
25 Feb 2010, 06:15 am
Anyone sick of sh#t like posts numbers 10 & 11?
There are alternatives…
25 Feb 2010, 08:25 am
@thesaint: Indeed! People let’s stick to the topic. Use facebook for your hate-speech…
25 Feb 2010, 09:45 am
**** headline… typical sensation seeking bollocks
25 Feb 2010, 17:10 pm
Rowdy Rickford, a stubby convict for life even without any reason – just doesn’t seem to have that thing called luck, lol. On the brighter side, administrative flaws even in “Civilized Europe”, Darkest Africa does not seem that bad at all….. lmao
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