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EPCR statement: The Charles Ollivon red card hearing verdict
By Liam Heagney
Former France skipper Charles Ollivon has been cleared to play for Toulon in their upcoming Challenge Cup final versus Glasgow in Dublin on May 19. The back-rower was red-carded in the early stages of his team’s semi-final win over Benetton last weekend, but he has now been cleared to play with immediate effect after the sending-off by referee Karl Dickson was overturned.
A statement read: “The RC Toulon flanker, Charles Ollivon, has had the red card that was shown to him during his club’s EPCR Challenge Cup semi-final match against Benetton Rugby dismissed following an independent disciplinary hearing.
“Ollivon was sent off by the referee, Karl Dickson (England), in the seventh minute of the match at Stade Felix Mayol for tackling the Benetton full-back, Matteo Minozzi, in a dangerous manner in contravention of law 9.13.
“An independent disciplinary committee comprising Jennifer Donovan (Ireland, chair), Martyn Wood (England) and Tony Wheat (Ireland) heard evidence and submissions from Ollivon, who did not accept the red card decision, from the RC Toulon sporting director, Laurent Emmanueli, and from the Toulon legal director, Cedric Rouhaud.
“In addition, submissions were heard from the EPCR disciplinary officer, Liam McTiernan, and the Toulon legal assistant, Sophie Magdziak, was also present during the hearing.
“The committee accepted Ollivon’s contention that the level of danger of his tackle was not high, and it was decided that the red card should be dismissed. Ollivon is free to play and EPCR have the right to appeal the decision.”
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Latest Comments
What’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
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