USA star Kelter will return from 3-game suspension July 19 v. Fiji in DC

USA star Kelter will return from 3-game suspension July 19 v. Fiji in DC

By Fran Thompson

  USA rugby star Alev Kelter will still be able to compete in this summer’s Women’s Rugby World Cup in England after accepting a three-match suspension for stamping on the head of Australia’s Georgina Friedrichs during the May 17 Pacific Four Series clash with Australia in Canberra. The Wallaroos won the match 27-19.

  Kelter was given a red card for stomping on the head of Georgina Friedrichs, who was attempting to make a tackle during the Pacific Four Series clash.

  Kelter, also a star for the Olympic bronze medal winning USA Sevens team, accepted that she had committed an act of foul play and that the referee’s decision to award a red card was correct. She could have been suspended for up to 52 matches.

  Kelter will miss the USA Pacific Four Series match against New Zealand on May 24 and two games scheduled by her Women’s Elite Rugby team: Bay Breakers v Chicago Tempest on June 7 and Bay Breakers v Denver Onyx on June 14.

She will be available for selection for the USA’s Rugby World Cup warm-up match against Fiji in Washington DC on July 19.

  On field microphones picked up the match referee calling Kelter a thug, saying, “Twelve, blue (Kelter), is going to receive a permanent red card because this is thuggery, it is deliberate and it is very dangerous foul play. She’s clearly stamped on the head of the Australian player. That’s reckless, that’s dangerous and she’s going off.”

  Although there was no disciplinary action take against the referee for that obvious misfeasance, World Rugby officials completely disagreed, ruling that Kelter only made “glancing or grazing” blows to her opponent’s face.

  Kelter will be free to play for the USA against the Wallaroos in what will surely be a decisive Rugby World Cup pool match in York this August.

  The Disciplinary Committee, chaired by Michael Heron KC (New Zealand), joined by former international players Becky Essex (England) and Ofisa Tonu’u (New Zealand), found that there was foul play and that it met the red card threshold consistent with the referee’s decision. 

  But the Committee accepted the player’s evidence that she did not intend to contact the head. On careful review of the footage, and considering the player’s evidence and submission, the Committee found that Kelter was not deliberately targeting the head of Friedrichs, but rather was reckless in her actions. The contact to the head was glancing or grazing rather than direct and targeted. The Committee was not satisfied that the player looked down and was aware she was contacting the head of the Australian player.

  The committee took all of that into account, as well as the player’s disciplinary record, early acknowledgment of foul play and her clear remorse when issuing the lenient three match sanction.

  Kelter is a three-time US Olympic representative in rugby sevens and won a bronze medal in Paris last year. She previously played ice hockey and soccer for the University of Wisconsin.

  A world class athlete, she captained the U.S. women’s ice hockey team to the gold medal at the 2009 IIHF World Women’s U18 Championship and led all defensemen in scoring with five goals and three assists.