North Petherton Rugby Club president Phil Ham has it back at claims that the club's decision to charge £1 entry for their Somerset Cup clash against Taunton was made out of spite.

Taunton's director of rugby Lee Waddon told the Mercury's sister paper the Somerset County Gazette that the club received just a £75 share of the gate money following the match, claiming the decision to charge £1 was made to spite Taunton.

But Ham said both clubs had agreed before the game to donate a share of all proceeds towards former Taunton and North Petherton player Jim Clatworthy's fight against a life-threatening brain tumour.

He said: “Somerset Cup rules state that clubs can charge what they wish without being extortionate.

“Jim played for North Petherton and Taunton for ten years and he is currently travelling to Belgium every week to receive vital treatment.

“We asked the club if they wanted money to go towards funding Jim's treatment and they said they would do, so we gave them £75 and money to the Jim Clatworthy appeal. A number of Taunton committee members shook hands on that.”

He added: “We look after players, past and present, if they have been injured or are suffering an illness.

“I will be bringing this up at a county committee meeting next week because he has brought the game into disrepute.

“The game had a really good crowd and it was a fantastic game of rugby - rugby was the real winner at the end of the day.”