RFL a toothless tiger in Hull FC debacle

The east Yorkshire club, who meet Wakefield Wildcats in the semi-finals later this month, were found guilty of a breach of the Rugby Football League's operational rules when they appeared before an independent tribunal in Leeds on Monday evening.

Forty per cent of the fine is suspended for 12 months, but Hull must pay £60,000 immediately. The club said on Tuesday that they would not be appealing against the verdict.

Hull, who were represented at the hearing by chief executive James Rule, were punished for playing Jamie Thackray before he was placed on their Cup register.

They had re-signed the prop forward from Leeds Rhinos after the initial deadline of March 3 and played him in their 42-5 fourth-round win at Rochdale on April 20.
Neither the club nor the RFL realised the error, which only came to light after Thackray played in their 32-18 fifth-round win at Widnes on May 11.
On May 14, the RFL board of directors ruled that both these results should stand because the operation rules contained no provision for expelling them from the competition.
However, they took a very dim view of the offence and asked RFL compliance manager Karen Moorhouse to pursue a misconduct charge while also pledging to tighten up the rules.
Hull, who won the Cup in 2005, will take on Wakefield at Doncaster's Keepmoat Stadium on Sunday July 27 for a place in the Wembley final against either Leeds or St Helens on August 30.

Although this is the largest fine that the RFL have ever imposed, if you take into account the monies that the club received for the quarter-final, along with a semi-final and a possible final, suddenly the 60,000 doesn't seem too bad.
So, in reality, the sport's governing body have, once again, shown themselves to be a toothless animal.
Indeed, they should have had the guts to expel the club at the outset, forced them to return their portion of the gate money to Rochdale and Widnes and given a bye to Bradford Bulls in the quarter-final.

Now, the RFL are left in a position where a club that they have found guilty of breaking an important rule could actually win the competition.

So, Hull FC have really got away with something serious and, as if to sweeten the pill, they chose Monday, the day of the hearing, to announce the signing of former Hull Kingston Rovers scrum half James Webster until the end of the season.

On the field, things are not much brighter for either of the east Yorkshire sides, with Hull going down to Catalans last Sunday. They have recorded only one win in their last seven games and are now just two points on bottom place in the table.

Things across the City are not much better either, with Rovers putting in a dismal performance against bottom club Castleford last weekend.

They left the park at half-time 18-0 down with a chorus of boos ringing in their ears.

The second half saw the Robins put up a little more fight, but it was all too little, too late and they finally went down 18-10.

Head coach Justin Morgan's side has been decimated by injury to key players, but, even so, the paying public are entitled to see the players who are given the shirt show a little more enthusiasm and passion than the fare which has been served up of late and, with a tough tie this weekend against Wigan, everyone at the club needs to act quickly to end the malaise.