London Wasps Under Investigation After Sale Sharks Walk Out

Yet another controversy has emerged in the Guinness Premiership as London Wasps walked out of their game with Sale Sharks at Edgeley Park yesterday evening.

Premier Rugby, the umbrella organisation for top flight clubs, is "urgently requesting a full report from the referee" after Wasps refused to take the field on safety grounds.

Close to kick off, Wasps expressed their dissatisfaction with the playing surface in Stockport to referee David Rose, who after consideration of the regulations, and the state of the playing surface, confirmed that the game could start, something the Sale agreed with. Wasps' management disagreed, and refused to take the field, indeed, they were back on their team bus by 19:30GMT and as a number of newspapers have reported, six pizzas were delivered to the Wasps team bus before the game was officially called off at 19:59 GMT.

A statement on the Wasps official website said, "Player safety remains paramount to the Club and will not be compromised under any circumstance. On arrival at Edgeley Park, inspection to the pitch showed the playing surface to be holding standing water, surrounded by soft and sloppy mud which would have made scrummaging extremely dangerous. This was seen in the extreme within the 15m channel on the tunnel side of the stadium."

The statement on the Sale's website took quite a different tone, "The management of Sale Sharks are firmly of the view that the game could have been played safely without putting at risk the safety of the players of either team."

Sale's CEO James Jennings added, "There as been no reasonable explanation provided by Wasps for their decision not to play. We will have to see what action PRL now take, but we are very clear what the right response should be to this." 

The loophole that Wasps have exploited — that the referee does not become responsible for either side's welfare until the kick—off — has now been deployed in three consecutive seasons, twice in games against Sale.

"Wasps did not want to play and at that point my opinion does not count for anything, I cannot make a team take the field of play,” Referee Rose said. "If it starts the safety then becomes my concern but before the start I cannot influence either side."

Looking at the Regulations from the RFU in relation to the Guinness Premiership, it's worth looking at section 4.4 Non—Fulfillment Of Fixture Obligations .

4.4 (c) states, "In adverse weather conditions, each Club must notify PRL of any concern in relation to the condition of the pitch and notify PRL of the steps it has taken to minimize disruption to any Match. The Club must retain regular contact with both PRL and the RFU’s Head of Elite Refereeing in relation to the condition of the pitch. PRL may exercise its powers under Regulation 5.3 (b) to require a Club to take appropriate action to ensure its pitch is being maintained to an adequate standard.

NB For the avoidance of doubt, it is the responsibility of the home Club to monitor the weather conditions in the week leading into any Match."

It's no secret that much of Great Britain has been battered by large swathes of rain in the last week, particular so in the North West, so of course the pitch was going to take a bit of a hammering. It was also used on November 21st for a football match, which added to the rain, was always going to have caused some problems.

What was done by Edgeley Park's ground staff to try to best maintain the pitch in the run up to the Wasps match despite all of the rain that fell on Stockport this week? And what was the level of communication with the PRL, match officials, and Wasps during the week?

While I can understand the anger from Sale that the postponement of the game at such a late stage, they must have expected a challenge to the state of the pitch. I've played on some pretty desperate pitches in my time, but you expect that at an amateur level, and this is Premiership rugby, insurance premiums are high, and Wasps are justified in their decision not to want to play in those conditions.

There are images where you can see the level of standing water in one part of the pitch. It's just not playable. Mud you can live with, water and an inability to get suitable footing you can't.

There will be different schools of thought on whether or not it is playable, whether Wasps were right in their decision, and what should happen now, but as Rose himself said, he can't force a team to come out and play.

It's now in the hands of PRL once they receive the report from Rose. It will all come down to the view of the pitch's playability, and exactly how events unfolded once Wasps arrived at Edgeley Park.

Possible outcomes are the game gets rearranged for a later date, where it doesn't clash with RFU dates, Sale are awarded a 0—0 win, Wasps are deducted points for failing to fulfill their obligations, and suffer a financial penalty.

Without knowing the true facts, it is difficult to speculate as to what will happen. If the game is rearranged, it can be expected that tickets would be valid for the new date, thereby removing a need for compensation for loss of revenue, refund of tickets, which would likely be the responsibility of Wasps to pay out, but again that is determined by the view PRL take on the state of the pitch, and if they agree with Rose that it was in playable condition.

As an interesting aside, it's perhaps worth remembering that Sale share Edgeley Park with League One football side Stockport County. 

Stockport were due to face Torquay in an FA Cup second—round match on Saturday afternoon, but following a pitch inspection on Saturday morning, the game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.