Leigh fined for Grand Final misconduct

Leigh Centurions have been fined £2000 for misconduct, relating to an incident which occurred at the end of last season’s Championship Grand Final.

Leigh were found guilty of engaging in conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game. This followed an incident where a  doping control officer was verbally abused whilst conducting a post-match test on a Leigh player.

The matter was initially dealt with as minor misconduct by the RFL compliance manager, who handed down a £2,000 fine, half of which is suspended until the end of the 2015 season.

The club appealed the sanction at an independent operational rules tribunal, which upheld the decision.

An RFL statement reads:

“Leigh were found to be in breach of RFL Operational Rules D1:8 (c) ‘engaging in conduct which is prejudicial to the interests of the game or which is improper conduct’ and D1:10 (b)

“Each club is responsible for the actions of its directors, players, officials, employees, representatives, spectators and all persons purporting to be its supporters and is required to use its best endeavours to take all precautions necessary to ensure that they do not act unlawfully and to prevent directors, players, officials, employees, representatives, spectators,  and all persons purporting to be its supporters from threatening, abusing or assaulting directors, officials, players, spectators, safety staff, or any person.'”