Surrey 'Rebels' Abandon Case (22 Oct 1996)

22 October 1996

Surrey `rebels` abandon case

By Christopher Martin-Jenkins

AN ATTEMPT by four Surrey Championship clubs to take High Court action over an argument about league points has been abandoned. The clubs have withdrawn a writ against the chairman and committee of the championship following a meeting at which the 56 other clubs made it clear that they did not support them.

In what the leading sports lawyer Charles Woodhouse, a former chairman of the Surrey Championship, described as "an abuse of the law in sport", the four clubs, Sunbury, Wimbledon, Old Whitgiftians and Old Emanuel, had tried to overturn the committee`s decision to penalise them for playing overseas players when they were not registered.

Both Woodhouse and another league player, Judge Colin Smith, who plays for Limpsfield, spoke vehemently against the legal action at two meetings.

The rules stated that clubs should not play an overseas player until he had been registered and could not play one at all unless he had been registered before May 31.

The offended clubs claimed that the regulation had not been applied until this year, when no fewer than 12 clubs in different divisions of the league had points docked. The use of players not properly registered apparently came to light this year only because scoresheets for all matches had to be handed in for the first time.

The four clubs went to the High Court in August, but Mr Justice Evans-Combe declined to hear the case during `vacation time` and the plaintiffs were told that they should come back in October if the matter had not been sorted out.

Legal costs for the two sides are estimated at =A35,000. David Franklin, the chairman of the Surrey Championship, said: "The clubs are withdrawing proceedings and making a contribution to costs. It has been very unpleasant but the clubs have rallied round the executive committee superbly."

The four `rebel` clubs were represented by David Debidin, a solicitor and captain of Old Emanuel, who said: "We have decided in the interests of cricket to discontinue proceedings." The Whitgiftians were the only club to be relegated as a result of the penalty points.

Woodhouse, president of Guildford, one of the clubs who opposed the legal action, added: "Our reaction was typical, namely that it was simply not acceptable to litigate against the chairman, secretary and executive who had tried in good faith to administer the championship in accordance with its rules."

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)