BASINGSTOKE RFC begin 2015 without a head coach, chairman or secretary after seven members of the club were punished by a Rugby Football Union (RFU) disciplinary panel.

Head coach Will Croker, chairman Steve Tristram, secretary David Crabbe, first team manager Mark Randell, skills coach Niall Catlin, captain Freddie Gleadowe and player Chris Guyatt were all found guilty of charges under RFU Rule 5.12, conduct prejudicial to the interests of the union or the game.

The charges related to ’Stoke’s London One South match at Guildford on September 13. Having realised that Guyatt was not registered to play, the decision was taken to put another player’s name on the official match card. Basingstoke went on to lose 37-31.

The club quickly decided to take action to mitigate the blunder, contacting the London and South East League in the following days to make them aware of the situation.

They were subsequently docked 15 points – but the RFU then launched their own investigation, and now a panel has handed suspensions to five of the seven men they decided to charge.

Croker, Catlin and Tristram have all been banned from coaching and administration for two months, with Crabbe and Randell both banned for one-and-a-half months. Gleadowe and Guyatt received formal reprimands, but were not banned.

In the wake of the verdicts, Tristram, who had been chairman for almost 20 years, and Crabbe, secretary for 14 years, have resigned, while Croker’s £18,000-a-year contract with the club has been terminated. Randell had already stepped down, while Catlin has been relieved of his duties, with Gleadowe and Guyatt receiving written warnings from the club.

The RFU panel decided that Croker and Catlin were the men behind the original decision. The panel said: “It is now common ground that it was a very poor decision, and inconsistent with the core values of rugby including sportsmanship, discipline and respect.”

As a result, Croker and Catlin could have been banned for as long as four months, but both received full credit for reporting the offence, their admissions, “genuine remorse”, and for co-operating with the investigation.

Randell was adjudged not to have been a primary decision maker by the RFU panel, with the judgement stating that he suggested alternative courses of action to the coaches. However, he did then complete the match card with the false name.

His charges carried a maximum ban of three months, but he too was entitled to full credit and his ban was halved to one-and-a-half months.

The panel ruled that Tristram and Crabbe were informed of the problem regarding Guyatt’s registration by Catlin before the game began, but did not prevent him taking to the field under a false name.

The panel noted the conversation between Tristram and Caitlin was “very brief”, the chairman had just given a speech, and “he was not immediately thinking about what was being done.” However, they decided that Tristram was an “important part of the path to the execution of the decision”, having been informed as Croker’s superior.

He could have faced a ban of up to three months but a month was knocked off for his part in the club coming forward after the match. The panel said: “It is fair to note that he was an important part of the decision-making process which led to the club reporting itself, and he deserves credit for that.”

Crabbe was also found guilty as he failed to prevent Guyatt from playing under a false name, with the starting point for his ban put at two-and-a-half months, with a month taken off for his co-operation.

However, neither Tristram or Crabbe received full credit as both were ruled to have given evidence that the panel decided was inconsistent with comments made in earlier emails.

At the hearing, both men suggested that they believed Guyatt would be replaced in the team if it was found that he wasn’t registered.

But, the hearing was told that in emails sent shortly after the incident, Tristram wrote that he “saw Chris Guyatt on the touchline and it began to dawn on me the significance of our actions”, while Crabbe wrote that “they (the coaches) were playing him (Guyatt) as Chris Kiernan.”

The panel decided the version of events laid out in the emails was consistent with evidence given by Catlin, and ruled that both Tristram and Crabbe were told, and understood, what was happening.

The various bans came into effect yesterday.

Read the full judgement at www.basingstokerfc.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/12/RFU-Judgement.pdf.