John Stankevitch ban lifted

The RFL have lifted the ban imposed on John Stankevitch, after the Rochdale Sporting Director agreed to pay his two outstanding fines.

Stankevitch, 32, was slapped with a complete ban from rugby league, meaning he could no longer be involved in matches, attend any rugby league grounds on matchday or be involved with any RFL member club.

The former St Helens and Widnes back-rower had been considering legal action against the governing body, but now appears to have backed down.

He was fined £1,000, £500 of which was suspended, after being found guilty of verbally abusing match officials and breaching the RFL’s Respect Policy following a Northern Rail Cup match against Keighley on February 26th.

Stankevitch stood down from first team coaching duties at Rochdale in July, but is still involved with the club.