SHEFFIELD EAGLES head coach Mark Aston’s efforts to take his case to the Sporting Resolutions arbitration service has suffered a blow after the RFL refused to agree a reference to that body, which has a record of mediating in sporting disputes across a range of sporting bodies.
Aston’s advisers are hoping that the RFL will reconsider its position, but in the meantime he is likely to appeal against the RFL Tribunal decision last month to suspend him for 18 months because he played Eagles fullback Matty Marsh in the Challenge Cup against Wigan in March when the player hadn’t been properly signed off from a concussion that he had suffered in a league game thirteen days earlier.
The right to appeal that decision to an Appeal Tribunal has been extended to today (Monday).
The original tribunal decision and the severity of the sentence imposed on Aston has garnered support for him from a variety of observers from within the game and, led by former Eagles Chairman Ian Swire, there is a growing movement to have the tribunal decision modified.
Part of their concern is that the Eagles’ club doctor informed the RFL by email on the morning of the game that she hadn’t signed off Marsh in accordance with the regulations, although she didn’t copy Aston himself into that email.
That was seven and a half hours before the game was due to kick off, but the RFL apparently took no action to stop Marsh from playing in it, either by contacting Aston direct or by entering the information on its Gameday system so that the Match Commissioner would be aware that Marsh shouldn’t play.
Since then the RFL has refused to reveal what it did with that email and what other email messages were sent following its receipt.
That information was therefore not part of the evidence at the original tribunal hearing.
That has now prompted Aston and Marsh to make Subject Access Requests under Article 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for information that the RFL holds.
Under those rules, It is a legal requirement for organisations to turn over all forms of written communications, including emails and text messages as well as any personal data held in both electronic and paper formats
“The original email has Matty Marsh as its subject and so will any email if it was forwarded,” Swire told League Express.
“Any internal discussions on why the RFL have decided to specifically target Mark Aston should also need to be revealed. They are legally obliged to respond within a month and there are large fines if any information is withheld or deleted. Every employee of the RFL will have to interrogate their files for any reference to either of them.”
Click here to get the digital edition of League Express
Click here to subscribe to the print edition of League Express
League Express is also widely available from local newsagents across the north of England.
