We can confirm that after discussion with the RFU’s Legal, Safeguarding and Disciplinary departments, no complaint has been received about the club and that the RFU are not investigating the clubs actions and has no intention of doing so

At a recent club members meeting in January, the Kingswood RFC management committee promised to improve transparency with the club’s members moving forward. The Kingswood RFC management committee therefore believe it is important to release details from an internal investigation into the recent defamatory comments made by the former Clubhouse Manager on social media about the club, its management committee and a supposed RFU investigation into Kingswood RFC.

We can confirm that after discussion with the RFU’s Legal, Safeguarding and Disciplinary departments, no complaint has been received about the club and that the RFU are not investigating the clubs actions and has no intention of doing so.

As explained at the meeting in this matter, the club has acted morally and legally correctly in this process and were legally entitled to withdrawal the goodwill payment.

Goodwill payments require goodwill to be shown by both parties. In this case this has not happened both through the previous Clubhouse Managers direct interaction with the club and the defamatory comments made on social media which have been aimed at damaging the management committee and Kingswood RFC’s reputation.

Having taken legal advice from the RFU, the club has sent the former Clubhouse Manager a “cease and desist” letter which states that if the defamatory comments do not stop, the club will be forced to take legal action.

It was never the intention of the club to go down this route, however, due to the events detailed above, and in order to protect the club's reputation, we have unfortunately been forced to take this action.

Hopefully this will now be the end of the matter, however, if any members have any remaining questions, please speak to any member of the management committee.