Dons’ anger at betting claims
Date published: 12 May 2011
DONCASTER chief executive Carl Hall has vowed to investigate after captain Shaun Leaf was accused of betting on the team to lose.
A report in a newspaper alleges the 27-year-old bet on his own team — Oldham’s rivals in Co-operative Championship One — to lose Sunday’s fourth–round Challenge Cup tie against Wakefield by at least 38 points.
Hall is quoted by the newspaper as saying: “There is no place in the game for this.
“If what I’m told turns out to be true, not only will he not be our captain, he won’t be at our club.”
Engage Super League side Wakefield defeated their Co–operative Championship One opponents 50–10 at the Keepmoat Stadium.
In the report, Leaf refers to a 46-24 loss to Oldham in Doncaster’s previous outing.
Leaf is quoted as saying: “We’ve had 48 points (sic) put past us by Oldham last week. I think Wakefield will put that much.”
In January of last year, former Oldham assistant coach Mark Cass was handed a 12-month ban by the Rugby Football League for illegal gambling.
He was found to have placed money on matches between 2008 and 2009, including 10 games involving the Roughyeds.
Cass was sacked by Oldham for “gross misconduct” after staking £400 on his own club to lose by more than 18 points to Dewsbury.
Meanwhile, Jason Boults is free to play in Oldham’s Co-operative Championship One game against South Wales Scorpions in Caerphilly on Sunday.
The Roughyeds prop pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the RFL disciplinary panel in Leeds last night, charged with ‘striking an opponent with his knee’ during Oldham's home win against Doncaster on May 1.
Judiciary concluded he was guilty, but they accepted the player’s plea of mitigation — that he reacted to a swinging arm — and ruled that his dismissal by referee Clint Sharrad was sufficient punishment in the circumstances.
Doncaster hooker Kyle Kesik, sent off at the same time, was not summoned to appear before the panel, the RFL’s disciplinary body having decided no further action was necessary in his case after studying the incident on DVD.
