KEY POINTS:
The entire senior team in a Northland rugby competition have been banned from playing for the rest of this season and next after opposing players were kicked on the ground during a game last weekend.
Police investigating a brawl that erupted 30 minutes into a game between the
Whangaruru senior side and Whangarei Old Boys at the Oakura sports ground say at least two Old Boys players were kicked as they lay on the field.
The Whangaruru club has lodged an appeal against the Northland Rugby Union's ban, claiming it is illegal because the club was not given a hearing, despite apologising to the referee and to Whangarei Old Boys.
"One Old Boys player was kicked in the head a number of times," said Senior Constable Gavin Benney of Hikurangi. "The guy has got lumps in the back of his head. The whole thing was pretty serious from the sound of it."
No one required medical treatment after the brawl, which police are investigating with a view to laying charges.
"We're looking at who might have been responsible for kicking and other assaults when people rushed on to the field from the sideline," Mr Benney said.
He expected a decision would be made on whether anyone was to face criminal charges when inquiries were completed early next week.
In the meantime, a rugby union subcommittee this week banned the Whangaruru senior side from club competitions until the 2009 season after hearing a report and details about Saturday's incident at Oakura, a coastal settlement northeast of Whangarei.
But Whangaruru club chairman Dave Scott said after a meeting last night that the club had decided to lodge an appeal with the rugby union, saying it had not been given a fair hearing.
"We are disputing the length of the suspension and the process by which it was imposed by the rugby union.
"This ban could kill off this club completely. We are not condoning what happened and we accept that we have done wrong. But a club is entitled to a fair hearing before a ban is imposed and that hasn't happened.
"We have identified the three players concerned and have done an internal investigation but we have heard nothing back from the rugby union.
"Our fingers are crossed that we can be reinstated [in the competition] next season."
Mr Scott said he had not been at Saturday's game.
"I was in town [Whangarei] looking after our juniors. I was driving back to Oakura and I saw them [Old Boys] going back the other way and I thought, 'That's strange'."
Whangaruru, a farming area 60km from Whangarei, had been third in the nine-team competition going into last weekend's game.
Subcommittee chairman Murray Dunn said the incident was serious, a black mark against the Whangaruru club and bad for rugby.
"We have to be seen to be taking action," he said.
"They [Whangaruru] can come back after 2008 on the proviso that they can prove they are able to manage themselves as a club."
Mr Dunn said the players had not been banned individually, only as a team.
If individual members of the side wanted to play for another club in next year's competition, that was okay.
However, that would not apply to those who were red-carded and sent off the field during Saturday's game.
They would be dealt with separately by the union, Mr Dunn said.
Banishment until 2009 was the toughest penalty he could recall being imposed on a club.
But Whangarei Old Boys senior coach Colin Shirley said it was not the first time the Whangaruru side had been in trouble.
"It's been going on for years. On Saturday we'd scored a try. We were walking back with our backs turned and suddenly they attacked us.
"It was pretty ugly. Our players were being kicked on the ground."
Others joined in from the sideline.
Mr Shirley said he spoke to the referee, who said, "Don't worry, I'm calling the game off".
The Old Boys side went to their cars and drove home to Whangarei.
"We went to the effort to get out there on the back roads when other clubs have defaulted and not gone. We were only there 30 minutes."
Mr Shirley said Old Boys did not ask for Whangaruru to be banned as a result of the incident.
"But we told the union we wouldn't play them again. It's a very sad day for rugby but we just have to move on."
