Sheffield Star, Published on Tuesday 1 May 2012
SHEFFIELD Eagles’ boss Mark Aston has hit out at the way rugby league is run.
Reports have suggested that Aston was considering ‘walking away’ over disciplinary action being taken by the Rugby Football League against two of his players. Aston, who combines the roles of chief executive and coach at the Eagles, said: “I always keep battling but I wonder how much longer I can bang my head against a wall.
“I’m not a quitter but I know why people have walked away.”
Back row forward Alex Szostak and utility player Dane McDonald were accused following a tackle on Michael Korkidas at Keighley. The pair will contest the Grade C dangerous throw charge – which carries a three-match ban – at a disciplinary hearing tonight.
Aston says the incident can’t be compared with the tackle by Castleford’s Rangi Chase that left former Eagles’ star Tangi Ropati with a broken jaw.
“My lads are being accused of a Grade C tackle, the same as Rangi – OK it was ugly but it was down to miscommunication and not intentional. As soon as they realised they let go. Korkidas did a forward rollout of it; there were no injuries.
“But Rangi gets three games for breaking Tangi’s jaw and he’ll be out for 12 weeks. How can anybody grade those as the same thing?”
Aston, the game’s longest serving coach after 13 years at the Eagles, claims there has to be an end to the lack of consistency by the governing body. “There’s no transparency. The systems implemented by the RFL are ridiculous, it makes the game look a mockery.”
Edited by Eagletarian, 01 May 2012 - 09:44 AM.
