Saracens have officially changed director of rugby Brendan Venter's job title to head of rugby culture and wine consultant to avoid media duties.
The London club made the move after receiving a £5,000 fine from PREM Rugby because the 56-year-old South African did not attend the league's official pre-season media day at Twickenham Stadium earlier this month.
Further financial punishments followed after Venter was absent from both pre-match and post-match media commitments surrounding Saracens' impressive league opening victory over Leicester Tigers.
Head coach Joe Shaw spoke to reporters at the Leicester match instead, and Shaw is set to continue handling press duties for the team moving forward.
Media regulations and legal dispute
PREM Rugby rules mandate that the person occupying the role of director of rugby, or the relevant position as head of rugby operations at each of its 10 member teams, must attend a weekly media conference and complete pre and post-match duties with television and written journalists.
Premiership Rugby represents the highest level of professional rugby union in England. The 10-team league enforces strict media access requirements across all member clubs to satisfy commercial broadcasting agreements with national rights holders.
Saracens are understood to be disputing the fines handed out to them by the league. The club argues that Venter's official position has changed and has formally requested permission for Shaw to undertake all official press commitments.
That argument comes despite Venter remaining quite clearly the man in charge of rugby affairs at the club. The eccentric South African celebrated Saracens' win at Leicester enthusiastically and has already mapped out team selections for coming weeks, casting doubt on his new consultant title.
Previous controversies and coaching history
Venter returned to Saracens in January for a second stint as director of rugby, replacing Mark McCall. McCall had been in charge of the coaching setup for 15 years, guiding Saracens to multiple domestic Premiership titles and European Champions Cup trophies before his departure.
Venter, who is a qualified medical doctor as well as a rugby coach, previously led Saracens between 2009 and 2011, reaching the Premiership final in 2010. During that first spell in North London, he was fined on several occasions for comments made to the media.
In 2010, after Saracens were beaten by French side Racing Metro in a European clash, Venter gave an infamous 57-second interview to Sky Sports that featured brief, monotone, and repetitive responses to every question.
The wine expert is keen to avoid a repeat of that scenario, but his new official position as a culture and wine consultant may yet only serve to cause Saracens further administrative trouble with league authorities.
