Grieving father 'devastated' after rugby club official demands fundraiser for dead wife is cut short so he can put the telly on

Paul Newton lost his wife to breast cancer in February and members of the women’s rugby team at Chichester Rugby Club came together to host a fundraising day for Cancer Research.

Between 50 and 60 people are said to have attended the fundraiser on Saturday (March 11) but things turned sour when the charity raffle clashed with the Six Nations game between England and France and one club member insisted the raffle be brought to a halt so he could watch the game on the club’s big screen.

Paul’s family have been left ‘devastated’ by the incident.

Chichester Rugby Club has issued Pauls and his family a written apology and said it ‘deeply regrets’ what happened.

Paul told this newspaper the day was going ‘fantastically’ until one rugby club official came over.

"He said ‘can you finish up we want to watch the rugby’. Then he came over a second time and I even showed him a picture of my wife – he totally ruined it. He was an absolute bully. I said ‘can you wait? There are two other televisions in the bar’ and I asked him to give us five or ten minutes.

"We were absolutely devastated. My kids were there and a lot of other people from the girl’s team. There were other people from the club but they had the respect to go into the other rooms.

"I can’t tell you how badly it was handled. I just think it is so wrong.”

A spokesperson for the rugby club said: “On Saturday March 11 there were a number of events happening at Chichester RFC, as a result the club was extremely busy. One of these events was a rugby match organised by our Ladies section, which was supporting cancer charities, it was very successful raising in excess of £2,000.

“During the course of the afternoon a misunderstanding occurred in the clubhouse, which led to a verbal confrontation. The club deeply regrets what happened and has written to Paul and his family expressing our sympathy and sadness at the pain caused to them at this time. We also set out that a full review of the events will take place immediately seeking information from all involved, including their family, to ensure that appropriate actions can be taken and lessons learnt for the future.”