The first division champions Rotherham were refused promotion yesterday, prompting questions in Parliament, anger among supporters and denials that the Zurich Premiership was a closed shop.

Rotherham, who had been relegated from the Premiership a year ago, were denied promotion after a unanimous vote by England Rugby Ltd's directors on the ground that the club had not proved they had a legally binding deal with Rotherham United to play at Millmoor next season and that they had administrative shortcomings.

Derek Wyatt MP, a former England international, is pushing for the Office of Fair Trading to look into the decision and to determine whether ERL is operating a cartel.

The ERL chief executive Francis Baron said Rotherham had made a half-hearted application which came nowhere near succeeding. "There was no legal agreement for Rotherham to play at Millmoor, merely a piece of paper with five lines on it which was not binding," he said.

"The facilities at their Clifton Lane ground were not up to the required standard and there was a suggestion they were looking to play at Oxford. In short, they did not tell us where they were going to be based next season.

"We gave Rotherham every chance to meet the criteria and, while it is clearly a disappointing day for their players, management and supporters, we were not left with any alternative. It is not the case that ERL is against promotion, far from it, but the criteria were agreed by the clubs in the first division and we sent independent auditors to conduct a thorough examination of the Rotherham club."

Rotherham will receive a compensation payment of £750,000, two-thirds of which must be spent on upgrading facilities, though a plan to develop Clifton Lane this year was thwarted by the citing of a 97-year-old bylaw.

The Rugby Football Union will provide the club with administrative assistance to ensure that they do not find themselves in the same position this time next year.

"Everyone at the club is very disappointed by the decision and we have to pick ourselves up," said Rotherham's chief executive Jim Kilfoyle. "I cannot understand the suggestion that we did not have an agreement to play at Millmoor; we will be there next season and ERL's auditors were shown around the ground last month by United's chief executive, which would not have happened had we been making it all up.

"Criteria can be used any which way. How do Wasps satisfy them when they do not know where they will be playing next season? How many spectators does Sale's ground hold?

"Fulham were promoted to soccer's Premiership last summer even though their facilities were not up to the required standard and they were given time to sort it out, as we should have been. We should be in the Premiership next season.

"I had a telephone call this afternoon from a Harlequins supporter who said how disgusted she was, while a student at Liverpool University later called me to say he could not believe how a professional sport was being run."

The Premiership's bottom club will be relegated next season, provided the first division winners satisfy all the 85 criteria laid down by ERL, but after that the position will be reviewed.

"The parameters of that review are very tight," said the Leicester chairman Peter Wheeler, an ERL director. "We either stay with one up and one down or we revert to the bottom team in the Premiership and the first division champions playing off. What we want is for more and more clubs to prove they are of Premiership quality on and off the pitch."

Colin Charvis will captain a Wales squad including five uncapped forwards from Pontypridd on tour to South Africa next month. The coach Steve Hansen has also recalled Test rugby's world record points scorer Neil Jenkins as one of three fly-halves and included the in-form London Irish lock Steve Williams.

Wales squad: Backs: K Morgan (Swansea), R Williams (Cardiff), D James (Bridgend), M Taylor (Swansea), J Robinson (Cardiff), A Marinos (Newport), T Shanklin (Saracens), C Morgan (Cardiff), S Jones (Llanelli), I Harris (Cardiff), N Jenkins (Cardiff), D Peel (Llanelli), G Cooper (Bath). Forwards: I Thomas (Ebbw Vale), G Jenkins (Pontypridd), C Anthony (Newport), B Evans (Swansea), R McBryde (Llanelli), M Davies (Pontypridd), S Williams (London Irish), R Sidoli (Pontypridd), G Llewellyn (Neath), M Owen (Pontypridd), R Parks (Pontypridd), M Williams (Cardiff), G Thomas (Bath), C Charvis (Swansea, captain).

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