Crusaders handed visa fine

Wednesday 24th February 2010

Super League club Crusaders have been fined £5,000 over "visagate" in which six of their players were ordered to leave the country last August.

The United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) found visas used to bring the Australian players to the then Bridgend-based club were invalid and that the Crusaders had failed to carry out checks on one of them. Captain Jace van Dijk, Tony Duggan, Darren Mapp, Mark Dalle Cort, Josh Hannay and Damien Quinn had their contracts terminated and were banned from the UK for 10 years.

The club had faced a fine of up to £10,000 per player but UKBA showed leniency after the Crusaders provided evidence that checks were made on five of the players before employing them.

"Businesses have a legal responsibility to carry out the correct pre-employment checks on their workers and those who do not can be fined," said Jane Farleigh, regional director of the UKBA in Wales and the south-west.

"As this case shows, we will not turn a blind eye to foreign nationals working in the UK without permission.

"The players involved have been required to leave the country and the employer has been fined for failing to carry out all the checks required by law."

Discrepancies were found in the visa applications of the six players before 2009.

Duggan and Quinn are both playing in France for Lezignan while van Dijk, Mapp, Dalle Cort and Hannay returned to play in Australia.