Attacking the referee with a chair turned out to be the worst of his four infringements, as Sandeep Yadav of Maharashtra State Police was handed a life ban after the attack on Uzbekistan rugby players on Tuesday. Rugby India came down heavily on six members of the police squad in the aftermath of the violence. Five other citings nailed the offences of Sudhir Bane, Sanjay Dhimal, Pankaj Kopde, Kiran Patil and manager Mahesh Shinde who were slapped with five-year bans each.

“These are very mild punishments as compared to what would have happened to them elsewhere in South Africa, New Zealand or England,” said Greg Davey, the International Rugby Board’s development manager for India adding that the incident was a good wake-up call to clean up some of India’s teams of their rash elements. The MSP club itself will be kept away from national tournaments for a year, and the sheer number of offenders meant they were handed a one-year ban.

More penalties

The disappointing on-field brawl — the recordings of which were reviewed by a three-member committee — penalised Bane and Dhimal for striking opponents with chairs, and Kapde and Patil for using wooden poles to attack the Uzbeks. Manager Mahesh Shinde, who joined in the scuffle, was also punished for kicking and punching an Uzbek as nine citings made up a detailed dossier of MSP’s list of offences in their three minutes of madness at Bombay Gymkhana.

Uzbek player Jehangir Wahabif — after celebrating their entry into the final after a 22-0 win over Chennai Cheetahs — said the team was a little frustrated with what happened on Tuesday, but will henceforth always be ready and alert when playing.

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