Keighley Cougars consider legal action against Rugby Football League

Keighley may take legal action against the Rugby Football League over the governing body’s decision not to punish Batley for fielding an ineligible player.

The Cougars were relegated from the Championship on Sunday following a dramatic 26-24 defeat to Featherstone, while the Bulldogs avoided the drop by a point courtesy of a 34-10 win over Doncaster.

However, Keighley are questioning how their rivals were effectively unpunished after having a three-point deduction for playing Jacob Fairbank, who had failed to meet the minimum requirement of three matches on dual registration to make him eligible against Sheffield, quashed on appeal.

In a statement on Keighley’s official website, club chairman Gary Fawcett said: "I spoke to the RFL yesterday straight after the match expressing that we are feeling very hard done to.

For breaching this rule Batley and Doncaster were found guilty and deducted three points by a disciplinary panel which were somehow, miraculously, reinstated the following week and, as far as we know, neither club has been punished at all.

"Currently, we are seeking legal advice regarding this problem."

The RFL reversed Batley’s points deduction after the club provided "fresh evidence relating to previous historical breaches of Operational Rules by other clubs which had not faced similar sanctions".

Ineligible

Doncaster also escaped punishment for the same offence and Fawcett highlighted the recent Champions League case involving Celtic and Legia Warsaw, who were thrown out of the competition by UEFA for a similar breach of rules.

"It is agreed that Doncaster and Batley broke the rules and fielded ineligible players one of which, Jacob Fairbank, scored the winning try for Batley during the game in which he was ineligible," Fawcett added.

"For breaching this rule Batley and Doncaster were found guilty and deducted three points by a disciplinary panel which were somehow, miraculously, reinstated the following week and, as far as we know, neither club has been punished at all.

"There is no publicly available information informing us why the points were re-instated. May I remind the reader that, when the same thing happened in football earlier this year, the team in question were thrown out of the competition."