St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus concerned over player safety
Wednesday 1 April 2015 23:32, UK
St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus has voiced concerns over player safety after stand-off Travis Burns sustained a broken cheekbone in the Super League champions' recent match at Hull KR.
McManus expressed his anger that Rovers forward James Green received only a one-match ban for the tackle on Burns, pointing to inconsistencies in the game he says could cause serious injury and drive away fans.
His comments come on the eve of the re-match of October's Grand Final in which Saints half-back Lance Hohaia was punched twice by Wigan forward Ben Flower, who was sent off and subsequently banned for six months.
McManus claims the warning he issued in the immediate aftermath of that match has gone unheeded.
In a club statement McManus said: "The Travis Burns incident and injury at Hull KR has frustrated me greatly and raises critical issues for the game which cannot be ignored or suppressed any longer.
"In the immediate aftermath of the Grand Final, I did publicly state that the combined inconsistency of officiating on the pitch and the irreconcilability of disciplinary decisions off it had created an environment capable of exploitation, innocent or otherwise.
'Serious concern'
"Only a month ago Kyle Amor was banned for two games for an accidental dangerous tackle which neither hurt nor injured anyone. How can you reconcile this with no sending off and a one-match ban for a late shoulder to the head (which by definition must be deliberate) by a prop which breaks a half-back's cheekbone?"
McManus added: "This is not a complaint that St Helens are being mistreated in particular, but a serious concern about the very foundations of the game, its players' welfare and its business.
"An environment of confused rule application on the pitch, compounded by inconsistent disciplinary sanction off it, will inevitably lead to unnecessary serious player injury as well as a disillusioned fan base.
"In addition to obvious player welfare concerns there is, equally importantly, a consequent commercial ill-effect for the entire game as well as for individual clubs.
"There is no point in making strong commercial progress, which the game recently has, if it is to be undermined by inconsistent officiating and disciplinary.
"The RFL and Super League have made great commercial progress in recent times, for which they are to be congratulated. However, this makes it all the more imperative that effective action is taken so as not to neutralise this.
"I can see no signs of progress since I raised what I considered to be a major alarm bell on this situation after last year's Grand Final."
