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Darrell Griffin sacked - Fev drama


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“RFL players’ contracts clearly state that permission to do so must be granted, in writing, by a chief executive or chairman.

“Darrell did not seek such permission and, given the club’s position and desire to achieve as much as possible in 2018, it would not have been granted under any circumstances.

“At the time of agreeing Darrell’s new contract, we made it extremely clear that he was not to play rugby union. This condition was added to his written contract, which Darrell signed in August 2017.”

Tbh, its tough. Duffy wouldnt necessarily have a clue about the contract situation.

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By some accounts his attitude was suspect when he was at Leeds - calling out McDermott in the press when you are still a Leeds player isn't such a great idea. So he was shuffled along quite quickly.

I'm sure Fev could have interpreted their contract in such a way as to keep him had they really wanted to as well.

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Duffy doesn't run the club and those text messages that have been leaked don't show Duffy giving permission. Duffy may in effect be his line manager but written permission would be required from senior management. Would anyone's line manager at work have the authority to allow them to work for another company on the side? Written permission would be required from the CX or Chairman. This should be even more apparent if they have called it out in the contract discussions.

Leaking the texts which throw Duffy under the bus in extremely poor form when he was clearly trying to protect the player. He's tried to get around the contract and its back fired.

Sacking may be harsh and maybe a fine would have sufficed but it's their prerogative if they want to get rid. I suspect a replacement may have been found prior to this happening which would partly explain the reaction. Gareth Hock is still without a club...

 

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14 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

I wouldnt necessarily think its so cut and dried. Duffy was his line manager after all, and generally, a request going to CEO or Chairman level would go through a chain of command, I'm sure the Chairman doesnt want the tea lady giving him a call for permissions. 

If Duffy gave permission and wasnt clear or left it open to interpretation as to whether that was his agreement rather than company agreement then i wouldnt be too confident that Fev have covered themselves. In fact their press release manages to contradict itself, it says that it was written in to his contract that he could seek permission to play RU, and that it was written in to his contract that he couldnt play RU. Both of those cant be true. Either he can seek permission or he can't do it.

No. It said "RFL players’ contracts clearly state that permission to do so must be granted, in writing, by a chief executive or chairman."

It then went on to say that "At the time of agreeing Darrell’s new contract, we made it extremely clear that he was not to play rugby union. This condition was added to his written contract, which Darrell signed in August 2017.”

So on the first point, which seems to be a standard contract, he needs written permission from CEOor Chairman. A text from Duffy is not that.

On the 2nd point, he had a specific condition added to his contract last year, suggesting it had perhaps been discussed. Duffy wont necessarily have been aware of that.

I do have some sympathy as I think this could have been resolved easily enough without going this far. But maybe the CEO specifically made this point during contract discussions.

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3 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

I think you are bit caught up with the idea that the contract is a final word rather than a document of the agreement at a stage in time. 

Just as if Griffin gets permission to play RU, the two contradictory clauses don't matter, its the same with the written permission. If two parties agree to suspend, remove or not abide by a clause in the contract then that clause is obviously unenforceable.

The original agreement had been superseded by the subsequent ones. If your office moves or hours change you don't get a whole new contract do you. You just both agree to the change and thats your new agreement.

Regardless of what the CEO may have said during the contract negotiations, If Duffy has exceeded his authority and as a representative of the club made an agreement he wasnt empowered to make, that isnt really Griffins fault is it?

 

Well Griffin didnt adhere to either clause.

But im not too interested a lengthy debate tbh.

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13 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

If Duffy gave him permission as a representative of the club, purporting to have the authority to do so and Griffin believing he had. Then he may have done.

He didnt have it in writing from the CEO or Chairman. If he did he would have won the case easily.

He had a text as part of a thread where he was settling up his fish order.

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In fact reading again, it says he needed written permission from the CEO/Chairman to play another contact sport, and he was specifically told during negotiations not to play RU, with a specific clause stating that.

Nothing contradictory there at all.

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Just now, scotchy1 said:

Boss, i want to play RU this weekend.

Thats fine mate, you can go.

It says in my contract, I need written permission from the Chairman, can you get that for me?

Its fine, He's on holiday at the moment but we have spoken about it before, he says if its ok by me, its ok by him. Dont worry about it. Its not an issue. I can grant permission.

Cheers Boss.

Are we into making conversations, holidays and processes up now?

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1 minute ago, scotchy1 said:

It doesnt matter. If the two parties agreed not to enforce that clause, unsurprisingly its unenforceable. 

Well they did enforce that clause. They sacked him.

But anyway, happy to agree to disagree.

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An employee cant simply circumvent the contractual process that has been agreed in the contract. Duffy doesn't have delegated authority within the contract nor has the CEO/Chairman given him delegated authority. Griffin can't just plead ignorance to contract clauses he has signed up to.

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1 minute ago, Tongs ya bas said:

Featherstone have worked hard over the last ten years or so to become a highly professional sports organisation.

This incident dents that image.

However I think that very professionalism will see this resolved.

How has the image been dented? An employee has seemingly breached a contract and they have been dismissed with a proper internal hearing and representation from RLPA. the statements have been to the point and well worded. What else could they have done to be more professional?

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Just now, Tex Evans Thigh said:

How has the image been dented? An employee has seemingly breached a contract and they have been dismissed with a proper internal hearing and representation from RLPA. the statements have been to the point and well worded. What else could they have done to be more professional?

Because the situation was created by a person or persons behaving professionally. Like I said, the club's standards will see the matter, which I'm guessing might not be quite resolved yet, sorted.

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4 minutes ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

An employee cant simply circumvent the contractual process that has been agreed in the contract. Duffy doesn't have delegated authority within the contract nor has the CEO/Chairman given him delegated authority. Griffin can't just plead ignorance to contract clauses he has signed up to.

Unless Duffy is acting as their 'agent' and gives a verbal/written authorization to ignore the clause. Then its a whole new ball game.

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18 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

Exactly.

Though it seems moot as Griffin doesnt seem to be taking any further action (and i doubt it would financially be in his interests, i cant imagine his contract was worth all that much) 

But it doesnt make Fev look all that professional if his coach is telling him one thing and the ceo firing him for it. 

 

It could go on for a number of legal reasons, but probably won't.  Fev need to get their act together.

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34 minutes ago, Tongs ya bas said:

Because the situation was created by a person or persons behaving professionally. Like I said, the club's standards will see the matter, which I'm guessing might not be quite resolved yet, sorted.

I don't understand the sentence.

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8 minutes ago, Kayakman said:

It could go on for a number of legal reasons, but probably won't.  Fev need to get their act together.

How? they inserted a clause and he's breached. Duffy was doing what any coach would do and trying to protect his player, unfortunately it's backfired. The club have acted professionally in my opinion. Duffy would likely act differently given his time again but he has been disciplined internally. Not sure how much more Fev could get their act together. Is Duffy supposed to act as contract manager now?

there's a good reason Griffin isn't pursuing legal action and it's not because 'the contract wasn't worth much'. He's highly unlikely to get a contract as good as the one he just lost which will have been 20-30k for the season.

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41 minutes ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

How? they inserted a clause and he's breached. Duffy was doing what any coach would do and trying to protect his player, unfortunately it's backfired. The club have acted professionally in my opinion. Duffy would likely act differently given his time again but he has been disciplined internally. Not sure how much more Fev could get their act together. Is Duffy supposed to act as contract manager now?

there's a good reason Griffin isn't pursuing legal action and it's not because 'the contract wasn't worth much'.

How?

-if no one else offers him a contract because they think he is a trouble  maker (due to the false publicity) , simply because he was following orders from a superior ; he could sue for future lost income, defamation, psychological stress which could then translate itself into physical health problems...or any other number of maladies.

-if a coach gives a player a directive while acting as an agent of the owner or corporation, and the player has a contract to provide services, and the directive is against the contract, the coach knew, or ought to have known his actions were incorrect, and if a tort is caused, that tort is compensable.

- if, because of Fevs actions; "He's highly unlikely to get a contract as good as the one he just lost which will have been 20-30k for the season.", then there is indeed a tort and a monetary damage, or future monetary damage, has just been sustained.

-that how!

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27 minutes ago, Kayakman said:

How?

-if no one else offers him a contract because they think he is a trouble  maker (due to the false publicity) , simply because he was following orders from a superior ; he could sue for future lost income, defamation, psychological stress which could then translate itself into physical health problems...or any other number of maladies.

-if a coach gives a player a directive while acting as an agent of the owner or corporation, and the player has a contract to provide services, and the directive is against the contract, the coach knew, or ought to have known his actions were incorrect, and if a tort is caused, that tort is compensable.

- if, because of Fevs actions; "He's highly unlikely to get a contract as good as the one he just lost which will have been 20-30k for the season.", then there is indeed a tort and a monetary damage, or future monetary damage, has just been sustained.

-that how!

How does that translate to Fev needing to get their act together? It would be all well and good if he hadn’t knowingly breached his contract but he has. 

Duffy has no authority in this case. Sure griffin could argue he was acting as an agent of the club but that argument is wafer thin when the clause states ‘written permission from chairman or ceo’ and this has been spelt out verbally as well as contractually.

you said Fev need to get their act together. I asked how. You’ve responded with a tenuous legal case griffin could take up but won’t because he hasn’t got a leg to stand on.

the only thing I can see that Fev could do differently is provide Duffy with some more information on contract clauses but should that be his job. 

Griffin breached his contract (and moral obligation after being asked not to play) and Duffy has made an error. The club had moved quickly to apply punishments they deem fit. What is the alternative? Let players do what they want and do nothing for a fear of being sued on a myriad of spurious legal issues? There has to be a line somewhere. The UK isn’t as litigious as the US for example.

Again, I don’t see how the club can get it’s act together any more than they have. 

Lastly, if you were a lawyer, which you might be for all I know, could you honestly tell me that if you were offered both theoritical cases you’d take Griffin’s?

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3 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

If the club agree those clauses were to be suspended, amended, removed or ignored then it doesnt really matter what they say because they are being suspended, amended, removed or ignored. Whatever has gone before becomes largely irrelevant. Any previous agreement has been superseded by the new one.

What you are missing is the possibility that Griffin may not have played had he not been given permission by Duffy.

But they haven’t agreed that. Griffin is in a position where he knows his contract more intimately than Duffy. He’s clearly tried to circumvent the contract and been caught out. 

Knowing what you know, do you honestly think Griffin has a solid case?

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