“Rugby star dropped over golf buggy arrest (CNN)” plus 2 more

Rugby star dropped over golf buggy arrest (CNN)
Rugby-Wales drop Powell after golf buggy arrest (Reuters via Yahoo! Sports)
Mild winter allows Spokane golf courses to open (Seattle Times)

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Rugby star dropped over golf buggy arrest (CNN)

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 09:51 AM PST

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(CNN) -- The governing body for Rugby Union in Wales has confirmed that international player Andy Powell has been dropped from the national side after police charged him with driving a golf cart while drunk.

Powell was arrested just hours after helping Wales beat Scotland 31-24 in the Six Nations Championship at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, and now faces a court hearing in Cardiff on March 2.

The 28-year-old back-row forward was stopped and breathalyzed by police in the early hours of Sunday morning at a highway rest stop close to the hotel where the Wales team were staying.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) said in a statement: "This kind of behavior cannot be tolerated in a professional, elite sporting environment and we have acted quickly and incisively in order to leave no ambiguity over the dim view we take of this situation."

Powell, who has won 14 caps for Wales and toured South Africa with the elite British and Irish Lions side, took part in a thrilling game against Scotland the day before in which Wales clinched a last-minute victory.

South-Wales police said Powell was charged with "driving a mechanically propelled vehicle whilst unfit through drink."

The WRU went on to say: "The player has made his private apologies to the Welsh management team as well as apologizing in a public statement.

"We will now leave the [police] to conclude the matter."

Powell's agent Mike Burton told BBC Radio: "Andy was disappointed and embarrassed to find himself in this position.

"Andy remains a committed professional and will now work towards re-establishing himself in the Welsh squad at a time when the WRU team management think fit."

A specific replacement for Powell will not be added to the Wales squad, who lie forth in the Six Nations table.

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Rugby-Wales drop Powell after golf buggy arrest (Reuters via Yahoo! Sports)

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 06:02 AM PST

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By Mitch Phillips

LONDON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Andy Powell has been dropped from Wales's Six Nations squad following his arrest on drink-driving charges after he was stopped in a golf buggy at a motorway service station on Sunday morning.

The 28-year-old British and Irish Lions back rower is due in court on March 2 after the incident which followed Wales's remarkable 31-24 comeback win over Scotland in Cardiff on Saturday.

His agent Mike Burton told BBC Radio that a friend of Powell's had called at the team hotel on Sunday morning with the intention of driving him home.

"Andy got up at 6.30 a.m, about 7 a.m. he went down for breakfast where the facilities were not ready so they said 'why don't we go down to the motorway services where we can get something there?'

"They walked out of the reception area, there was a golf buggy there and they used that to get to the services where the police asked them how they got there," Burton said.

After meeting Powell, the Welsh Rugby Union said Powell had been dropped from the national squad.

"Andy knows he has misbehaved and is apologetic but he also knows that he must take responsibility for his own actions and accept the repercussions," team manager Alan Phillips said in a statement on Monday.

"This kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated in a professional, elite sporting environment and we have acted quickly and incisively in order to leave no ambiguity over the dim view we take of this situation.

"The player has made his private apologies to the Welsh management team as well as apologising in a public statement and we have also asked him to apologise to the Vale Resort Hotel, before asking him to leave the squad."

Wales, whose next game is at home to France on Feb. 26, are not planning to call up a replacement.

(Editing by John Mehaffey; To comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Updated on Monday, Feb 15, 2010 9:52 am, EST

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Mild winter allows Spokane golf courses to open (Seattle Times)

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 01:15 PM PST

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