A Rugby Football Union (RFU) official who struck a Wasps player with a match programme during Saturday's Heineken Cup match between the London side and Clermont Auvergne has been banned from attending any Guinness Premiership or home England game for the rest of the season.
Alan Black, a Wasps member and employed by the RFU as a leisure rugby manager, intervened in a brawl in the second half of the match.
He leant across a barrier separating supporters from the pitch
and reacted to the fracas by rolling up his match programme and
striking a Wasps player, though it is believed he had intended to
strike a Clermont player.
While accepting Black's actions represented serious
misconduct, the RFU felt there were mitigating circumstances and
deemed a ban for the rest of the season sufficient.
The order runs up to and including June 1st, 2008.
Black, who admitted he was "ashamed" by his actions, will continue in his role with the RFU.
