Rebecca Morgan-Scott

“I’ve always loved rugby, and I remember chatting to a friend one day and saying to her, ‘wouldn’t it be great if there was a job that combined law and rugby together’?” 

As it turns out, Rebecca Morgan-Scott's idea of a dream job did exist. And she's been doing it for the last 14 years.

After graduating from Keele with a degree in Law & Criminology in 2005, Rebecca is now the Disciplinary Hearings Manager at the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the national governing body for grassroots and elite rugby in England.

In her role, she is responsible for the organisation and running of RFU disciplinary hearings, held when a player has received a red card, both at first instance and at appeal. This includes appointing panels for all RFU hearings at national level, training panel members and attending all disciplinary hearings where she uses her expertise to provide specialist support to the proceedings. 

Based in the RFU's headquarters at Allianz Stadium, England's national rugby union stadium and the venue for the England national rugby union team's home matches, Rebecca says she feels lucky to have a job where she combines her passion for rugby with her education, made possible with her degree from Keele. 

She said: “If a player receives a red card in a match, then that report will come through to us – from semi-professional matches  up to Premiership matches. It’s my job to look at the cases and appoint appropriate panels for each disciplinary hearing, taking into account whether the members have any conflicts of interest or expertise in a certain area which might be helpful for a particular case. 

“The disciplinary hearings are usually held on Tuesday evenings and it’s my role to be at each one. In terms of my job, I think of myself as being like a court clerk in a magistrates’ court. Our panels are experts who know what they are doing, but I am there to provide advice and support on all aspects of the disciplinary process, and the rules and regulations for the sport. 

“Once the disciplinary panel has reached their judgment, I’ll then proofread it, to make sure they’ve dealt with everything they should, send the judgement out and then co-ordinate on a press release with the communications team if necessary. 

“I’ve always loved rugby. All my family are Welsh, and I grew up supporting Wales, so when I told my dad I was going to be working for England rugby, he wasn’t too sure about the news! I did play rugby a couple of times, but I got absolutely battered on the wing, so I think I’m a better spectator than I am a player. 

“I really enjoy my job and it’s great I can combine my legal background with the sport. Theres always something new that I come across and didn’t know about before, so it makes the job different and challenging at the same time, which I like.” 

After graduating from Keele, Rebecca worked as a Crown Court case manager and then as a legal executive in family law. In both positions, she said the job didn’t feel quite right for her, however, thanks to her degree, she was able to land what she describes as a “niche” role at the RFU. 

Rebecca, who grew up in Shropshire, said: “I wanted to be a physio when I was young, but science was never my best subject and my parents said what about studying law, and it went from there really. I grew up in Shropshire, about 30 minutes away from the Keele campus, and my dad studied at Keele in the 1970s so I knew about the University from what he had told me about it. 

“I came and had a look around and I just really loved the vibe of the place and the fact it was a campus that had everything I needed on it. I had visited universities in some of the bigger cities, and they just felt overwhelming to me, whereas Keele felt like home.  

“I moved into the accommodation at Holly Cross which was brand new at the time and there were about eight of us in our little block and I really enjoyed it. I spent a lot of time in the Students’ Union in my first year and I’ve got some great memories from it. 

“There were a lot of people on the course who had very clear career goals, they wanted to be a lawyer or barrister, and I was really enjoying what I was studying but I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to end up doing.  

“After graduating, I got a job in a criminal law firm and worked there for about six months, and then moved to a family law firm where I spent five years and was training to become a legal executive but inside I still really wasn’t enjoying it and thought there has got to be more to work than this. 

“Jobs combining law and sport were not really heard of when I was studying but they are much more common now and have really advanced in recent years. It’s fantastic to be working in sport but still very much within that legal setting.”