Premiership introducing fines for virus protocol breaches from this weekend

Fines of £100 are being introduced for any breaches of coronavirus protocols by players, coaches or members of staff involved in the Gallagher Premiership.

From this weekend’s round of fixtures, the education first approach used until now will be supplemented by financial penalties for any person who overtly or repeatedly ignores the rules, either on matchday or outside.

The change has been approved by the professional game board, which comprises of Premiership Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and Rugby Players’ Association.

“This measure has been introduced to reduce the risks of possible Covid transmission,” PGB chair Chris Booy said. 

“While the overall levels of compliance with the minimum operating standard protocols to date have been high, there have been examples where individuals have not adhered to the revised COVID protocols introduced this season.”

All money raised from the fines will be donated to Restart Rugby, the RPA’s official charity, and can only be issued by the RFU’s head of discipline. Individuals will remain anonymous unless they accumulate three COVID fines, in which case they will face a disciplinary hearing. 

Among the behaviours subject to a penalty will be try celebrations, although only when a player is clearly at fault will a sanction be issued. As regards the latest round of virus testing, 984 players and management from the twelve clubs were tested on Monday and no-one tested positive for the second successive round of PCR testing.