At the end of last season a player for Grimsby RHC received a red card for which he had to serve a 2 match ban. When this season started the player in question had not registered with the NRHA.
Grimsby RHC played 2 Premier League games without this player and prior to the player in question registering with the NRHA.
The player in question registered on the 19th January and played in the next three Premier League games for Grimsby RHC.

The question is, “Can a player serve a 2 match ban when he is not registered with the NRHA?”

The decision of the NRHA Disciplines Committee was that the ban had not been served.
The punishment for this was that the player would serve his 2 match ban and that the Grimsby RHC would lose any points gained in the 3 matches this player took part in and would lose each game by a score line of 0-10.

This was appealed against by Grimsby RHC and an Independent Appeal Committee was formed.

As Grimsby RHC had appealed against the decision of the NRHA Disciplines Committee, the player in question was perfectly entitled to play in any games until the final decision had been made.

The final decision of the Appeal Committee was that the Grimsby RHC would lose any points gained in the 3 matches this player took part in and would lose each game by a score line of 0-10.
It was further decided that the player in question would be permitted to play in any further matches without serving a 2 match ban.

It is the opinion of the NRHA that the Grimsby RHC did not deliberately attempt to bend or break the rules.

Keith Allen