by Chris Hunter

A Gravesend rugby player has been left blind in one eye after an alleged eye-gouging incident during a match in Maidstone.

Clarence Harding is unlikely to regain the sight in his right eye after the optic nerve was severed during a match at Mote Park in Maidstone on Sunday January 17.

The 26-year-old, who is also a blues guitarist, was rushed to a specialist unit after the incident but surgeons were unable to save his sight.

Police are now investigating the circumstances of the injury.

In a statement from Gravesend Rugby club Mr Harding said he was playing at number eight and was on the floor giving the ball to his team mates when he felt a "finger in my eye".

He added: "It was over in an instant but it dawned on me very quickly that something pretty serious had happened. The ball was nowhere near my head at the time."

Gravesend club chairman Graham Haggar said photographs taken at the time were currently being studied.

The club, currently top of London One South division, has written to Maidstone Rugby Club to demand an investigation.

Mr Haggar said he was "deeply concerned about the horrendous injury" and that no Gravesend player had ever suffered an injury of this kind in the club’s 100 year history.

He added: "We are anxious to cooperate with any investigation to establish exactly what happened in the match and we will support our player and his family in any way we can.

"Without wanting to prejudge an investigation we regard eye-gouging as sly, cowardly and vicious, as does the rest of the rugby fraternity. It has no place in our sport or in any other activity.

"Any player found to have committed such an act should be banned from rugby for life and should face the full weight of the criminal law."

Police say they are investigating an allegation of grievous bodily harm in which a 26-year-old man sustained a "serious injury to his eye" during a rugby match at the sports field at Mote Park, at about 2.20pm on Sunday January 17.