Jaguars' Church: London arrests were a 'misunderstanding'

The arrests of four Jacksonville Jaguars players for failing to pay their tab at a London nightclub was a “misunderstanding,” safety Barry Church said Sunday.

Church, fellow safeties Jarrod Wilson and Ronnie Harrison, and cornerback D.J. Hayden were identified by multiple media outlets as the players involved in the incident early Saturday morning.

“There was definitely a misunderstanding, but as far as my actions are concerned, I take full responsibility,” Church told reporters following the Jaguars’ 24-18 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.

“I don’t want to be a distraction or anything like that to my team and my teammates, but we handled it as a private matter within the team, and we’ll just go from there.”

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that the players were arrested on suspicion of fraud by false representation, but did not provide more details. The team said the players were detained because they did not pay their bill, but declined further comment. The players were released with no further action taken by the police.

Church declined to answer questions about how long the players were detained by police, or whether any punches were thrown at the nightclub.

“I don’t want to get into any details about that, but we were just hanging out as a team. That’s it,” he said.

Church started Sunday’s game, the Jaguars’ fourth straight loss. Harrison and Wilson played, but Hayden missed his fifth straight game with a toe injury.

“It’s just disappointing how it went down,” Church said. “I didn’t want to be a distraction or anything like that, but hey, it happened. I took full responsibility for it with my teammates, and we just weren’t able to pull a victory out today. It just kind of adds to it. That’s what happened.”

Coach Doug Marrone said he has spoken with the players involved.

“I’m not going to go into specific details,” Marrone said Sunday. “We’re still gathering information from it.”

—Field Level Media