Central Coast Rugby League: Woy Woy Roosters, NSWRL at odds over suspended player breach
It’s a saga that involves suspended players, glitchy apps and ‘missing’ emails. Find out why one club wants to take on the authorities over its points deduction penalty.
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Depending on who you ask, it is either a very simple matter or a complicated dispute.
The Woy Woy Roosters are at loggerheads with New South Wales Rugby League after the club was stripped of two competition points for fielding a suspended player.
Amid the differences of opinion and multitude of contradictions, one thing that all parties agree on is that it started back on May 4.
It was during Woy Woy’s round four clash with Toukley in the Rugby League Central Coast first grade competition that interchange forward Jake Hardman was sent off for tripping and given a one-match suspension.
What followed were weeks of wet weather, a bye and postponed games.
By the time the Roosters next took to the field it was June 1, some 28 days later, and Hardman played in the team’s breakthrough 26-22 win over the highly fancied Kincumber Colts.
This is where views – and at times recollections – start to differ.
Woy Woy was ultimately stripped of the two competitions points it won that day and saw its next game – a 28-12 loss to The Entrance in which Hardman also played – changed into a 60-0 defeat.
The Roosters are now seeking a hearing to appeal against the decision.
THE DISPUTE
Given that Hardman played back-to-back games after receiving a suspension, to many it might seem like a black and white case of the club being in the wrong.
But Woy Woy has said that a combination of confusion and what it perceives to be errors on the side of administrative bodies meant that it fielded Hardman in the rescheduled round three clash against Kincumber on June 1.
In its defence, the club pointed to the fact that MySideline, the app used to submit team lists in the competition, allowed Hardman to be included in the side – something that generally doesn’t happen if a player is ineligible.
“He got suspended against Toukley, the next week we played Umina, which don’t have a first grade team, so we had a bye, then we had two washouts,” said Woy Woy coach Blake McLean.
“The next week was the Kincumber game. He was available in MySideline and when they’re not available you can’t select them.
“I spoke to the club, they’d seen the report from the judiciary that gave him a (return) date, and the date was up because (at the time it was sent) they didn’t know there were going to be washouts.
“But it also said in the fine print something along the lines of washouts are counted (towards suspensions). I know it’s a term that can get mumbled up, but we saw that, we saw that he was available on MySideline, we found the email from before that said if the player’s on the app they can play, so I thought he was good to go.”
However in response, a NSWRL spokesperson said that Woy Woy was in clear breach of the rules.
“The NSWRL rules for suspended players clearly state: ‘the onus is on the player and/or the player’s parent/guardian and club to ensure that the suspension is served in full before the player returns to the game.’ NSWRL rules also state that suspensions cannot be served during byes or postponed matches.”
On the matter of Hardman being available for selection in the MySideline app, Central Coast Rugby League general manager Andrew McIvor said: “Because of the washouts and everything else, he’d become available in MySideline but as they were quite aware, he was suspended for a game and he hadn’t served his suspension,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter who’s available in the app. There could be a glitch in the app and a mistake could happen. And it does say that in the documentation. They just haven’t followed it and have played the player, so that’s really what it comes down to.”
In another central part of its argument, Woy Woy has pointed to an email sent to clubs at the beginning of the season stating that if a player was available in the app, then they would be eligible to play.
However McIvor said that while that email in question may have sent mixed messages, the official rules were clear.
“If there was a communication that said, ‘If there’s a player in there, you’re fine to play him’, that’s more or less is OK but it’s not the rules – that’s just a general statement.
“As they know, a suspension was given to the player. He didn’t serve the suspension, they knew he didn’t serve the suspension but they have played the player.”
The issue has some similarities to a recent case on the Mid-North Coast, where Group 2 side Nambucca was stripped of two competition points for going over its points system quota.
While the club pointed to the fact that one of the players’ points had been erroneously graded in his previous games for the club, which led them to believe they were under the cap, the Group argued that Nambucca had failed to follow proper protocols when it came to registering the player, and as such were docked two competition points.
Woy Woy’s case has also stirred up differing opinions locally and indeed triggered a broader discussion about the use of MySideline and clubs’ understanding of where responsibility should lie when it comes to cases like these.
Some club officials are steadfast in the belief that Woy Woy is at fault, that the club should have known that Hardman hadn’t served his suspension and should have been more thorough in following up with the RLCC, regardless of what the app said.
“Their argument doesn’t cut it. He was suspended for one game, he didn’t sit the game out,” said one club official.
Others are more sympathetic, pointing to the fact that all clubs were told that if a player was available in the app then they were eligible to play.
Meanwhile another club official highlighted some of the issues associated with the MySideline app, saying it was “fraught with drama”.
“There are always problems with the app, players going missing and suspensions not showing up. You should call the division in these situations, but because clubs were told at the start of the year that, ‘If they’re in the app, they’re able to play’, it means Woy Woy can revert back to that.”
BREACH NOTICES AND DISPUTED FACTS
Another big issue is centred on when Woy Woy was actually informed of its breach.
A NSWRL spokesperson said the body informed Woy Woy after the game against Kincumber on June 1 but before the following fixture against The Entrance the following Sunday.
“The NSWRL advised Woy Woy that Hardman still had a one-match suspension to serve before he played again the following week in a Round Eight match against The Entrance on Sunday 8 June.
“The NSWRL subsequently made the result of this match a forfeiture from Woy Woy for fielding an ineligible player.”
However in what is one of the many disputed claims in the situation, the club said the first it heard of the issue was after the round eight clash against The Entrance on June 8, more than one week after the initial breach against Kincumber.
“I’ve been assured (by club officials) that (NSWRL) did not come back and say anything to us in between the Kincumber and The Entrance games – it was after The Entrance game,” said McLean.
“If that was the case, why didn’t they take Jake out of the MySideline app after the Kincumber game then? Why did they wait until after The Entrance?
“After The Entrance game they removed him so that he was actually suspended and they didn’t put him back in until he sat the following week out. As if we would play him against The Entrance a week later if we knew he wasn’t allowed.”
There are also differing recollections when it comes to what happened on match day when Hardman took the field against Kincumber in what proved to be the first breach.
“Kincumber were fine with it before the game,” said Woy Woy coach McLean. “Someone from their club asked about it and we showed him. But he said, ‘If he’s in MySideline then he’s all good.’”
McLean added that Kincumber captain-coach David Fifita, who is also his brother, was comfortable with Hardman playing.
“David said, ‘If he’s in the app, sweet. We want to beat you full strength anyway,’” said McLean. “But then we beat them and someone on the committee lodged a complaint.”
Kincumber president Lyndon Duncan said that while he doesn’t know what Fifita might have said to McLean, his club did not give Woy Woy permission to play Hardman.
“At no point did our ground manager tell them to play a suspended player,” he said.
Kincumber did not receive – and has not applied for – the two competition points stripped from Woy Woy in the fixture.
‘LET US SIT DOWN AND EXPLAIN’
Nearly two months on from the initial breach, Woy Woy officials remain frustrated by the penalty handed down by the NSWRL.
Given the circumstances, the club has called for leniency, arguing that the penalties should have been set aside and Hardman allowed to serve his suspension once the issues were discovered.
“It might have been wrong (to play Hardman) but I would have liked to have seen some accountability. They’re not accepting any fault themselves,” said McLean.
“The way I look at it, they should say, ‘It was our error in MySideline’, because Jake was still in MySideline for Kincumber and The Entrance.
“They took him out of it for the game against Ourimbah but then they brought him back the week after. They can remove him from MySideline when they need to.
“In my eyes, I think they should have just copped it that they made a mistake, or the app has made an error, and let him serve the suspension once they found out.”
It is not the first time Woy Woy has clashed with governing bodies in recent memory. Last year the club was banned from hosting spectators for one game following a wild brawl that broke out outside of Woy Woy Oval in the aftermath of a game between the Roosters and Wyong. Some Roosters players were banned and charged for their roles in the incident.
“I don’t know what it is with Woy Woy but it feels like there are two rules. It just doesn’t feel like we get anything, no leeway. If there’s the toughest penalty, we get the toughest penalty,” said McLean.
In response, RLCC general manager Andrew McIvor said the punishments were clearly set out in the competition rules.
“All the penalties and the scope of the penalties are written down.”
“And when clubs breach the code of conduct or official abuse or whatever it is, there’s a process that needs to be followed. And unfortunately for Woy Woy, they have been penalised in regard to what is in our policies and procedures,” he added.
“I can understand Blake’s frustration, especially after last year. I wasn’t around last year but especially from his end there might be a feeling of being hard done by.
“But from our end, as I said to Blake, we’re trying to help Woy Woy as much as we can, and unfortunately there’s been some administration issues or blindsides that makes it hard for Blake as a coach.”
As far as the status of the points deduction issue, the authorities are clear in their view: “The NSWRL considers the matter now finalised,” a spokesperson said.
However Woy Woy has vowed to appeal the decision and said that it is following the matter up with the NSWRL. McLean said that Fifita has even volunteered to vouch for the club at any potential hearing.
“David was one of our witnesses to say that we should keep our points. He’s the coach of Kincumber and has no problem with it,” he said.
“Let us sit down and explain to you what the scenario is, let us have our witnesses there and we can show them the emails we received to explain how it is on our end.
“What are we getting out of playing a suspended player? We’re not deliberately trying to break the rules. If I wanted to do that I’d play him under a different name. We thought he was OK to play,” he added.
“They (NSWRL) might consider it to be closed but we definitely don’t.”
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