A row is brewing between the Northland Rugby Union and a women’s premier team over the team’s exclusion from the rest of this year’s competition, prompting a legal challenge.

Kaikohe women’s premier rep Arohanui Allen
filed an interim injunction in the High Court to restrain the NRU and its chief executive Cameron Bell from excluding her team’s participation in the semifinal against Old Boys Marist in Whangārei last Sunday.

The urgent application, heard on the same day as the team’s semifinal match, was dismissed.

At a meeting of the Northland Council of Unions on June 8, Bell said the council upheld a recommendation by the NRU to remove the Kaikohe women’s Premier team from the remainder of the competition for repeated breaches of the NRU’s code of conduct.

But Allen said the NRU has not provided either the Kaikohe Rugby Football and Sports Club or her team with any details of the complaints before the decision, relayed to the club two days before the semifinal, was made.

Speaking as a player rather than on behalf of the club, she said the decision was based on unwritten complaints by four clubs about her team’s on-field conduct.

The team was not afforded natural justice as the NRU did not hear their feedback, Allen said.

But Bell said the decision was not taken lightly following ongoing communication over six weeks between the union and the club to address on- and off-field behaviour.

Bell this week did not answer questions from the Northern Advocate around specific breaches of the code but in a press release said the decision to exclude the team was taken as a last resort after both the NRU and the Northland Rugby Council of Union (NRU COU) exhausted all available options.

“NRU acknowledges that this decision will impact members of the team who behave positively and in line with the values of rugby. Both NRU and NRU COU are committed to ensuring that the safety of players and the rugby community is the priority,” the press release said.

“Rugby should be welcoming and safe for everybody, players, officials, volunteers and spectators. NRU does not condone unsporting behaviour that is contrary to this and will always make every effort to support the people of the Northland rugby community.”

Bell said NRU was committed to working with the Kaikohe RFSC to ensure it was able to provide a pathway for women and girls rugby through the club next season and beyond.

In her affidavit filed in court, Allen said nowhere in the code of conduct did it say the NRU Council of Unions has any role to play in determining alleged breaches of that code.

Handling of misconduct-type issues was dealt with through the NRU’s designated disciplinary officer and then by the judicial officer, she said.

“Surely the NRU cannot make any findings of breach or non-compliance without giving the accused club or player details of the club and an opportunity to be heard before coming to their conclusion? That simply has not happened here,” Allan argued in court.

Following the court ruling, she said the team wanted more equitable processes for the sake of their daughters, sisters, and nieces coming up in women’s rugby.

Kaikohe Rugby Football and Sports Club president Wally Harris said this week it was investigating other avenues but did not elaborate further. In a letter to Bell following the club’s exclusion last week, Harris said the decision would have a significant impact on both the club and the community and would undermine the relationship between NRU and the club.

“In an effort to resolve the issues at hand, we ask that the NRU provide written detailed accounts of the allegations made against the club, along with the detailed framework and Standard Operation Procedures the NRU use to investigate such allegations.”

The club, he said, always took allegations of misconduct extremely seriously and this was shown in its efforts to develop and implement a club code of conduct that all its teams and members must align with.

“The KRFSC committee acknowledge that allegations of misconduct have been raised by the NRU and agree that these allegations need to be investigated thoroughly.

“The KRFSC has also come to the agreement that the NRU has not given the KRFSC Committee the sufficient time and information to address these and any allegations thoroughly and agreed that the NRU has come to discussions with predetermined outcomes,” Harris said, referring to a hui between NRU, club committee and the women’s team on June 6.