DEFENDING champions Leeds Rhinos were controversially kicked out of the Wheelchair Super League play-offs after failing to fulfil a fixture due to a player’s wedding – but coach James Simpson-Hill says they’d make the same decision again.
The RFL not only awarded a 24-0 victory to hosts Halifax Panthers for a game which should have taken place last Saturday (August 16), and docked Leeds a competition point, but ruled them ineligible to take part in the next three rounds of fixtures, which determine who qualifies for the Grand Final.
Leeds came third in the Super League table but now Hull FC, who finished fifth, go through to the play-offs with Halifax, London Roosters and Wigan Warriors.
The Rhinos were unable to fulfil the Halifax fixture due to their squad being unavailable on the day as they were attending the wedding of squad member Ewan Clibbens.
“We knew (of the clash) straight away when the fixtures were released,” said Simpson-Hill.
“Ewan was getting married and that was the priority. We all said we’ll be there for it, every single player.
“The players in my team have been mates for over a decade and they’re always going to choose their family and those kinds of events over playing a game.
“We let Halifax know, we let all the right people know back in February.
“We said we’d get a second team there, just so there is a fixture. But due to it being the school holidays and everyone being away, we couldn’t even get a team to do that.
“No team could be put together, and that was about a month in advance. So then we had to basically forfeit the fixture.
“I don’t blame Halifax. We told them in advance and there were no other weekends.
“The season started so late this year, in June, when we used to start in April, so there were no spare weekends.”
An RFL statement said that they had implemented a competition rule which states: “Any team which does not fulfil all regular-season fixtures will not be eligible to participate in play-off and finals activity.”
However Simpson-Hill said: “It’s up to the discretion of the management what punishment they want to give you.
“We were shown quite a few options. One was being relegated out of Super League next year. But we never wavered.
“I was constantly speaking to the players, asking if they were happy with this. They were all adamant the wedding was the priority.
“Relegation was the worst-case scenario. We knew we’d get a points deduction. The play-offs, we didn’t know how that would work or where it would go. But it is what it is.
“Whether we agree with it or not, we’ve just got to accept it. We’re happy that we made the right decision in prioritising Ewan’s wedding over that. And if it happened next year, we’d do the same.”
The holders of both major wheelchair titles have been prevented from defending their crowns this year, after Catalans Dragons were removed from the Challenge Cup amid a dispute between the RFL and the French federation.