GALA Rugby Club is to take no further action against head coach George Graham after he admitted punching a man he believed had got his wife the sack.
Graham pled guilty at Carlisle Crown Court to causing actual bodily harm to Michael John Stimpson at an industrial estate in the Cumbrian city. The 46-year-old was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid community work and pay court costs of £300.
Gala president George Marshall said this week that the club had discussed the incident with Graham, who led the 1st XV to a Scottish Cup win earlier this year.
Mr Marshall told TheSouthern: “George told us there was likely to be a court case after the incident happened.
“He has been open about it with the club. We have since discussed it internally and told George we hope it is a one off as we don’t want the club being brought into disrepute. It was a personal matter and it has been dealt with.”
The court heard Graham, who lives in Carlisle, went into the offices of the Network 4 furniture delivery company at Kingmoor Park one evening in July and confronted Mr Stimpson, who was working there.
The former corporal and physical training instructor in the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders accused Mr Stimpson of spreading “rumours” about his wife and told him: “I am not going to hit you here, but if I ever see you outside...”
Graham became increasingly “wound-up and aggressive”, prosecutor Becky McGregor told the court and Mr Stimpson tried to back off.
But Graham punched him in the face with his clenched fist, sending him falling backwards onto a pile of mattresses, from which he bounced, knocking himself unconscious as he landed on his face on the floor.
Mr Stimpson suffered concussion and needed a total of 11 stitches – seven inside his mouth and four outside, the court heard.
When interviewed by the police later Graham admitted he had been “angry about the situation” involving his wife.
In mitigation, defence advocate Mike Reay said Graham had suspected Mr Stimpson of “having had some part” in his wife’s dismissal.
She had now found another job, but it was only part-time and poorly paid, he said.
Judge Peter Hughes QC described Graham as a “hard working man who doesn’t stand any nonsense”, and chose not to make the former Scotland prop pay compensation to Mr Stimpson because of the circumstances of the case.
Judge Hughes added: “There plainly was a background to this incident, but I am not concerned about the rights and wrongs of that.
“You are a strong man and well able to look after yourself. You allowed your temper to get the better of you.
“Wherever the justice may lie in relation to the problems your wife was having at work, they provide no justification for you taking matters into your own hands in quite the way you did.
“It may have been one thing to go and speak to Mr Stimpson to express your views, but it was quite another to push him and then punch him to the floor.”
Graham started his playing career at Stirling County in 1987 before switching to rugby league in the early 1990s with Carlisle Border Raiders. When he returned to rugby union he played for Newcastle Falcons in a successful six-year stint before joining the Border Reivers in 2002.
After finishing his playing career, Graham had three years as forwards coach with Scotland until May 2008.
He spent one season coaching at Petrarca in Italy but returned to the Borders in 2009 when he was appointed head coach of Gala.
Graham, whose two sons George and Gary play at Netherdale, has brought success back to the club, taking Gala to Scottish rugby’s top club division in 2010/11 before winning the Scottish Cup and Border League last season.
The Maroons are in the running to win their first Premiership title for 30 years this season, and a victory at great rivals Melrose this Saturday would take them top of the league.