Club Statement: RFU Disciplinary Hearing for Barbarians Players

A hearing of the RFU Disciplinary Panel in relation to charges brought against a group of players selected for the Barbarians took place on during the week of 22^nd November, the outcome of which has recently been announced.

As a club, we want our supporters and everybody associated with Saracens to know that we have taken this matter extremely seriously. The eight current Saracens players involved made some extremely poor decisions leading to actions which were foolish and serious in nature. The players have been punished for the mistakes that they have made and they could not be more remorseful or apologetic.

They are absolutely devastated their misguided actions led to the cancellation of the England vs Barbarians game and caused great upset amongst rugby fans, and specifically to Saracens fans who have been incredible during such a challenging year. 

Following the incident, the Saracens players each voluntarily moved swiftly to take substantial steps by way of recompense and atonement for their actions, including contributions to help cover lost wages for casual workers at Twickenham Stadium, donations to the Matt Ratana Foundation and commitment to raise significant further funds for this charity in the months ahead. This, in addition to writing personal letters of apology to each of the major stakeholders impacted.

The club felt it was important that we implemented our own set of sanctions ahead of the RFU Disciplinary Hearing so that the players involved were very clear on the severity of their actions and the negative impact they have had on the club and our supporters. In considering these sanctions we looked to other professional sports and professional sports clubs who have experienced similar breaches of Covid-19 protocols. The club have now implemented these sanctions, which are consistent with those imposed by the RFU Disciplinary Panel.

The players understand that they demonstrated poor judgement without thinking of the consequences of their actions. One of our club values is to care for people. It is now time for us to support our players and help them learn from their mistakes.

Lucy Wray