The Newcastle rugby director Rob Andrew will today apologise to the Gloucester hooker Olivier Azam and the club's supporters for allegations of racism he made against them at the end of last year, averting the threat of legal action against him.
Andrew made his remarks following Newcastle's Premiership match at Kingsholm and in the uproar which followed Gloucester banned him from their ground. The Rugby Football Union set up an inquiry panel to investigate his allegations.
The panel's report, which was published six weeks ago, exonerated the Gloucester supporters and declared that there was no evidence that Azam had racially insulted the Newcastle flanker Epi Taione after the pair had been sent off for fighting.
Gloucester, Azam and the club's supporters demanded an apology from Andrew after the panel reported but the former England outside-half kept his silence. However, in recent weeks his lawyers and those representing Azam and the Gloucester Rugby Supporters Association have worked on a mutually acceptable written apology which will be released today.
Gloucester have lifted their ban on Andrew visiting their ground and after tomorrow's final round of Premiership matches Newcastle could end up visiting Kingsholm next weekend in the championship play-off quarter-finals.
If the Falcons lose at Northampton while Gloucester remain in third position, Newcastle will find themselves travelling to the West Country.
The Gloucester supporters had started a defamation action against Andrew but the apology means it will be dropped. Azam's solicitor was preparing a complaint to the RFU on the grounds that Andrew had brought the game into disrepute. That, too, will be shelved.
Rotherham are considering making a formal complaint to the RFU after being denied promotion to the Premiership. The First Division champions are angry at England Rugby Ltd's contention that the club did not meet the criteria for the top flight because it had not produced a legally binding agreement to play from next season at Rotherham United's Millmoor ground.
"We have a three-year agreement dated March 25," said the Rotherham chief executive Jim Kilfoyle. "We are very angry at the way ERL justified their action by painting us in a poor light and saying that we had made our case in an amateurish fashion. We have documentary evidence and we will be making a point-by-point rebuttal of the unfounded allegations made against us.
"We are bloody annoyed. We had recruited a number of players for next season, including some big names from the southern hemisphere but there is no way they will be prepared to play in the first division. What ERL called a woolly document relating to Millmoor was in fact a heads of agreement drawn up by a solicitor."
