BY JOHN DAVIDSON
The RFL has backtracked over its stance on the Mark Aston case and will now allow the Sheffield Eagles coach’s appeal to be heard by Sports Resolutions.
Aston has been seeking to challenge his heavy 18 month ban handed to him by the RFL after a tribunal, read more about the suspension and the case in-depth here. He wanted his appeal to be heard by Sports Resolution, a London-based global independent, not-for-profit, dispute resolution service for sports, and not by UK rugby league’s governing body.
The RFL originally refused this, stating on November 11 that: “Under Operational Rule D1:60, the first hearing is to an Operational Rules Tribunal (chaired by an independent Judge, with two side members).
“The avenue of appeal is to an Operational Rules Appeal Tribunal (a new panel, chaired by a different independent Judge, with two new side members). This is the accepted and established process and precedent for compliance cases involving Operational Rules breaches.”
But today the RFL has changed its mind and will agree to the appeal to be heard by the independent body. rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads understands the change in position came under weeks of heavy media, political and external pressure, and after an strongly-worded email today sent to the RFL by Aston’s lawyers.
The RFL has yet to explain its backtrack after citing its operational rules as the reason why it originally refused the external appeal.
Ian Swire, the former Sheffield chairman who has led the support group demanding justice for Aston, was ecstatic with the development.
“We feel elated but elated and relieved for Mark,” he told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
“His life has been destroyed and unnecessarily. The RFL did not want to go to Sports Resolution, they absolutely did not want to go there.
“But we’ve came at it from different angles. The RFL had nowhere to go. There was the legal threat of going to Sports Resolution anyway without the RFL’s approval.”
More than 15 professional coaches from Super League, the Championship, League 1 and the NRL have also shown their support for Aston in an open letter to ask for his appeal to be heard by Sports Resolution.
It is believed the RFL changed its mind before the open letter, led by John Kear, went public today. The letter is reprinted here:
Swire believes the RFL will likely compromise before the appeal is heard.
“My gut feeling is that the RFL will settle,” he said.
“They won’t want to be humiliated. The logic is that they will compromise. It’s just a complete travesty, the whole thing.
“All of it is just shocking. The witness statements alone, they’ve gone for the wrong person here. Mark’s not the scapegoat.
“A lot of people are willing to support Mark. We had plenty up our sleeve to keep going.”
A date for the appeal has yet to be confirmed.
