Wigan Warriors confirm appeal against points deduction - but when will a decision be made?

[josie andrews]

Wigan have formally lodged an appeal against their points deduction.

And they hope to discover soon whether their bid will be successful. The Warriors have won one of their two Super League games but remain on scratch, after being docked two points for breaking the salary cap by around £14,000 in 2017.

“We have formally appealed now,” said chairman Ian Lenagan. “We are trying to do it quickly, both we and the RFL want it done as soon as possible.

“We’re appealing on two different issues, and so we’ll see how we go.”

The appeal could be heard within the next two or three weeks. Once a date is confirmed it is expected to be announced by the RFL or the club.

Wigan’s punishment was announced just a day before the launch of the new Super League season.

Lenagan admitted not declaring £14,000 of payments to agents during the '17 campaign, blaming an administrative error, and apologised.

But he felt docking the club two competition points was a harsh punishment for such a relatively small breach, and cited historical examples of clubs receiving fines for bigger breaches.

Wigan were waiting until they received a written judgement from the independent panel before lodging their appeal.

They have decided to let external body Sports Resolutions decide on the case, rather than go down the rugby league route and present their case to an independent tribunal.

The hearing is expected to be heard in either London or Manchester.

https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... -1-9605396

[shaunedwardsfanclub]

Good.

[nathan_rugby]

Rules are there for a reason and we have broken them, albeit for a small insignificant amount. The line has to be drawn somewhere.

If it were Wire, Saints or Leeds we wouldn't be saying they shouldn't get a points reduction.

[jobo]

Rules are there for a reason and we have broken them, albeit for a small insignificant amount. The line has to be drawn somewhere.

If it were Wire, Saints or Leeds we wouldn't be saying they shouldn't get a points reduction.

I'm with you on this matter. Hope the deduction is withdrawn but personally I think we should have accepted the verdict, explained how and why it happened then moved on.

[nathan_rugby]

In hindsight it does appear that 2 points is harsh for the amount we were over and the explanation that has been given, especially considering it was from the 17 season and we are now in the 19.

Perhaps a tiered system based on the amount you are over as well as aiming to get the punishment served in the same year or year after is the way forward.

[Caboosegg]

Rules are there for a reason and we have broken them, albeit for a small insignificant amount. The line has to be drawn somewhere.

If it were Wire, Saints or Leeds we wouldn't be saying they shouldn't get a points reduction.

But when saints did break it for a larger amount they didnt get a deduction.

I still think its appauling agent fees are put on the cap, basically draining the already limited salary cap.

[wall_of_voodoo]

The Salary Cap is monitored in the following ways:

- In the case of Super League, all new and revised Player contracts, Loans and squad declarations are reviewed by the Professional Delivery Team and a revised Spend position agreed with the Club;

- In the Championship and League 1, Clubs are required to submit monthly returns to the RFL to allow their spend to be monitored.

- All Clubs are required to submit half year and full year returns evidencing all payments made to Players;

- RFL audits of clubs; and

- If necessary, investigations by the Compliance team

https://www.rugby-league.com/salary_cap_regulations

Unless the operating rules have changed, how and why has this taken two years to come out?

I think the telling point in the appeal is the fact Wigan have asked for an independent (well independent of the RFL) body named "Sports Resolutions" to hear this as opposed to using the RFL's own appeals panel.

Tells you the club have ZERO faith in the RFL - full stop!

[jao 711]

I’m not sure the RFL have the bottle to revoke the points deduction .Imagine the howls of protest from other clubs,especially in Yorkshire.

[DaveO]

I still think its appauling agent fees are put on the cap, basically draining the already limited salary cap.

I agree in principle but the trouble is as soon as you introduce a salary cap you have to close off every possible loophole.

An agent could be paid a fortune and pass it onto the player a bit like employing a players wife as a cleaner and paying her £40k or whatever.

It’s why image rights fall foul as well. Too easy to pay for putting a players face on a poster advertising something as a ruse to get around the cap.

Of course that means the players and clubs have no incentive to advertise the game either so with a cap policed as strictly as the RFL police ours you get lots of unintended consequences.

I don’t know if the RFL have been vindictive or not but when such a tiny infraction results in two points lost you have to wonder about the ethos of a cap in the first place.

I am slightly amazed the RFL have been so effective at policing it and have worked out the loopholes.

By the way, if no one else has mentioned it, in RU such technical blunders as Wigan committed are punished with a fine at a rate of 50p in the pound and nothing else.





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[fozzieskem]

I didn’t realise that Dave about Union and how they deal with any transgressions,to me that’s perfectly fair fine the club,hard the message with soon get across to all concerned that it’s going to cost the club money rather than points,which in this case is a farce being so long ago the error took place