Boots 'N All caught up with Celtic Crusaders boss Mike Turner after a turbulent week down in South Wales.
Who is to blame for Visagate?
It has been a turbulent week down in South Wales and
Boots 'N' All spoke to Celtic Crusaders Chief Executive Mike Turner
No one expected their debut season to be easy but Celtic Crusaders' campaign has been thrown into more turmoil as six of their Australian contingent are to be deported following a UK Border Agency investigation into immigration offences.
Crusaders captain Jace Van Dijk and fellow Australian team-mates Tony Duggan, Damien Quinn, Josh Hannay, Darren Mapp and Mark Dalle-Court have all been ordered to leave the country.
The first question posed to Mike Turner was that surely Celtic Crusaders should have made sure all their paperwork was in order.
"It goes back to the 2006/07 season when according to the UK Border Agency there were some irregularities with the lads visas," Turner told
Boots 'N' All.
"We have known about it for the last eight weeks and have been working closely with the UK Border Agency as have the players to help them with their investigation. Obviously the conclusion came to and end on Tuesday when they decided that the players needed to be deported.
"There still is a massive potential for a Super League franchise down in the South of Wales and we will be moving the business forward. Obviously we have had a lot of hiccups this season but we have had a lot of successes with eight of our U18's representing Great Britain and a number of the lads coming through. For the wider audience Wales is a strong hold for rugby and we believe it is a massive opportunity once we get all the structures in place."
RFL blameless?
The RFL have also come in for some criticism for not making sure that players registered to play in the Super League had the proper credentials.
However RFL league communication manager Craig Spence, says that is definitely not the case.
"What I need to clear up is that the RFL are not responsible for any of these visa issues," Spence told
Boots 'N' All.
"For a couple of years there has been a bit of a grey area surrounding what is called the working holiday makers visa and I think that is what the problem here is. These players have been playing in the UK on these visas and the UK Border Agency has decided that is not appropriate and has deported them.
"In previous years the UK Border Agency has laid out the regulation that people are allowed to play in sport in the lower levels - not in the Super League for example - on a working holiday maker visa.
"When a player comes to be registered with the RFL we just look at their visa paper and ask have the UK Border Agency approved this players status in the UK yes or no. It is as simple as that. In these cases these six lads had yeses next to their names and therefore we registered them as players.
"In the last few weeks the UK Border Agency have changed their stance on this and decided that those players were here illegally."
The RFL have asked the UK Border Agency for their report to see if Celtic Crusdaers need to be sanctioned further and to hopefully clear up any misunderstandings for the future.
"We have not seen the report yet from the UK Border Agency," explained Spence.
"We want to know why these players were here - in there terms - illegally. We need to sit down and study that report and see if any wrong doing was done by the players or the club. Then we will decide on the next form of action."
