This is an excerpt from a story published in this week’s issue of League Express newspaper, which is out in all good newsagents right now. If you can’t get your hands on a hard copy, click here to download a digital version to your computer or smartphone.
Keighley Cougars player coach Paul March’s attempt to join Hemel Stags on loan during his two-month suspension has been blocked by the RFL.
As revealed in last week’s League Express, the two clubs had come to an agreement for March to join the Championship One club on a month’s loan to help his match fitness and the Stags’ squad.
Keighley believed the move would be permitted as March’s two-month stadium suspension for verbally abusing an official only covered Cougars’ matches.
But the RFL stepped in last week, justifying its decision by citing two clauses of law C1:2:3.
They state that the game’s governing body can refuse the registration of a player if: “The board reasonably believes that the club (or clubs) concerned is entering into the registration or contract in order to circumvent the operational rules; or the board reasonably believes that the player has been deregistered or had a registration refused for disciplinary reasons or is under a relevant suspension or ban imposed by the RFL or another governing body of any sport in any part of the world.”
As a result, March will still not be able to play until his two-month suspension ends in July.
To read the rest of this article, buy issue 2,917 of League Express newspaper. You can click here to download the digital version or find it in your local newsagent…
