Mark Aston to appeal against 18-month ban and 'categorically denies' key piece of evidence

The Sheffield Eagles boss, along with club physio Mick Heys, was found guilty by an RFL tribunal last week of allowing player Matty Marsh to appear for the team in a Challenge Cup tie at Wigan Warriors on March 27 after not receiving the necessary medical clearance following a concussion. The bans were imposed by an independent Operational Rules Tribunal following an RFL compliance investigation.

Aston’s case is that he was led to believe Marsh had cleared three tests following a concussion sustained in a game two weeks earlier and was fit to play, hence why he played him.

But the Eagles’ doctor/equivalent, Hannah Cole, who oversees the Graduated Return to Play (GRTP) protocols for the club, said she would not be signing Marsh off to return to play as she did not feel that the GRTP as per medical standards forming part of RFL operational rules had been followed.

She emailed the RFL on the morning of the game notifying them that she did not deem Marsh fit to play. Crucially, neither Aston nor Heys were copied into the email.

Heys has also been suspended for 18 months from holding a medical position in rugby league – but six months of his sentence has been suspended for 12 months in recognition that he “admitted his conduct at the outset” and “has apologised and expressed significant remorse”.

The tribunal heard evidence from Heys that he told Aston on the coach to Wigan that Marsh – although having passed the tests – had not been cleared to play by the doctor, and that Aston responded: “We will deal with the consequences later.”

Aston denied making that statement to the tribunal and has since told The Yorkshire Post that he categorically denies saying that and will be appealing against the ban. He has until Thursday to do so.

Concurrently, the figurehead of a coalition of senior individuals formed to call for a review of the ban meted out to Aston and a reform of RFL’s head injury protocols has accused the governing body of scapegoating the long-standing Sheffield Eagles coach.

Ian Swire, an Eagles director from 2000 to 2016, has questioned why Aston is being banned at all if the RFL received an email from Cole on the morning of the game saying he had not been passed fit to play.

Swire said: “The more I’ve read through it I do believe he is being scapegoated. The doctor sends an email on Friday morning to three people at the RFL saying I am not signing this player off. Mark and his lawyer have asked who were those emails sent to in the RFL? Who else was aware that the doctor wasn’t going to sign Marsh off. The RFL have come back and said due to legal privilege we’re not telling you.

“Why did the RFL not intervene and say he can’t play? At that point they can go into their game day system and flick a switch that says he can’t play and from there the match commissioner will go down the list of players and say this player can’t play. They did that the following week for the same player, and we’ve got the system sheets showing it. The following week they played at Doncaster and there were only 20 men on the sheet, Matty Marsh had been taken off by the RFL. But he wasn’t taken off on the morning of the Wigan game. Where did that email go?”

An RFL spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to comment while the appeals window is open.”