Barrow Raiders have revealed they've been deducted 29 points after being found guilty of breaking rules over payments to players.
Cumbrian outfit relegated to Championship One
Barrow Raiders have revealed they've been deducted 29 points after being found guilty of breaking rules over payments to players.
The Cumbrian outfit appeared before a Rugby Football League tribunal in Leeds on Thursday night charged with misconduct and a series of breaches of operational rules.
The points deduction will mean automatic relegation to Championship One and a reprieve for Dewsbury.
The Raiders also say chairman Des Johnston has been banned from involvement in rugby league for eight years,
A statement issued by Barrow said: "Both the club and Mr Johnston have taken further legal advice and been advised to make no comment until such time as the written adjudication giving the reasons for the tariffs imposed has been received and considered."
The breaches span a four-year period up to 2011 and emerged during a formal RFL investigation which has been taking place for the last two months.
The investigation included recent allegations made by former player Ned Catic, principally against Johnston.
Barrow were docked six points in July for breaching the salary-cap regulations in 2010, which ended their play-off hopes for this year, and had a further six-point deduction suspended until the end of 2012.
Barrow and Johnston were found guilty of a systemic breach of RFL regulations over a four-year period from 2007.
The League decided the club broke the following operational rules:
failing to record in player contracts all financial benefits or benefits in kind that a player is receiving;
no club or club official shall loan money or goods or make payment or provide any benefit in kind to a player unless they are recorded in the player's contract;
misconduct by committing a breach of Championship salary cap regulations.
