Diamond comes across as a grade one #### and Phil Clarke continues his way up the most disliked man in Rugby League charts . It is time for him to be removed from our screens .

This is a fairly standard clause in professional sports contracts.

For example, below in a rugby union contract
[i6 PLAYER’S OBLIGATIONS
The Player shall throughout the Term of this Agreement as set out in Schedule 1:

6.1 not participate without the Club’s express written authority in any recreational sport or activity that is likely to endanger his fitness or ability to train or play rugby for the Club;

6.2 not (save where permitted pursuant to clauses 8 or 9 below) train for or play rugby union or any other competitive sport for any other club, team, body or rugby organisation otherwise than for the Club unless:
6.2.1 he shall have prior written authorisation from the Club to do so; and

6.2.2 the applicable club, team, body, organisation or union concerned shall have accepted in writing, to the satisfaction of PRL, liability for loss of salary, medical costs or other associated costs caused by any injury sustained by the Player in the course of such participation; [/i

Source, The RFU website, standard premiership rugby contract.

They governance of their sport openly allow for a clause like this to be entered into a contract. It would be difficult for them to argue that it is unenforceable if a similar clause is in Solomona's contract with Cas.

Just to add to the above. If such a clause, as is customary with most professional sports contracts, is in Solomona's contract, and Sale did not obtain permission (which based off of Castlefords statement of 'we don't know what has been going on for 3 weeks, seem pretty obvious) then Sale are complicit in this. Sale would have needed to confirm with Castleford that they accept any costs incurred from an injury, and Cas would have had to agree.

For those Sale fans saying they do not see what we have done wrong, this would be exactly what they have done wrong.

And yes, I am the Sale fan on that board who pointed out what the club has done wrong, and all my fellow Sale fans seem to disagree.

Isn't the stance that by "retiring" then the contract would be nullified?

You'd need to check what the T&Cs were in the contract which covered the players retirement criteria / exit clause, and whether these could be triggered unilaterally.

The case of Leeds Rhinos, Bradford Bulls and Harris provides some useful pointers, shame it never ended up with an actual decision at the sharp end, but still.

It ended up the Bulls agreeing to pay a large sum of money once they (seemingly) accepted that their view Harris was a free agent was not sustainable. I don't see on what I've read how Sale could possibly have thought for a minute that Saleomona was a free agent.

One of them innit, ask for forgiveness after the event rather than permission before hand.

Not at all like the Harris saga as that was within the same sport. The RFL could place whatever sanctions they wished on solomona, his agent, Sale and his dog- but the RFU or Sale don't have to pay diddly squat attention to it. IF Sale have done nothing wrong within law then they its tough luck regardless of how morally low it is!

Working with several Sale fans, we have yet to agree what Solomona is bringing to them at, what has to be, a huge cost. He's RL winger: Charnley in today's MEN referred to having to learn very different skills ([size=85including the eye-opening statement "... playing Rugby League you've got to make more than 15 carries. You have to make more than 100 metres. It's hard going from a game where you're touching the ball 15 times to having the ball 3 times and making it 10 metres."[/size)
I feel Solomona will find it the same. But the lure of money is hard to avoid and many have done far worse for money. As for Sale, my impression is they are finding it difficult at the new stadium (like us). So getting such a skilled and high profilled (for RL) player would be a worthwhile gamble.

And to add to that, the moment Solomona goes out on the pitch and plays for Sale then he will become protected by the RFU establishment.
The RFU will not risk any explosive bad PR and I should imagine they will have legalities in place to stomp over the RFL, my guess is that there will be some compensation and the RFL will huff and puff another day.

I let the Sale main sponsors know(politely)my disappointment at the sort of actions they are being associated with by sponsoring a club which acts in such a despicable way. I said that I was sure that they would disapprove and might want to withdraw sponsorship or put pressure on the club to behave in a more decent manner to avoid further tarnishing the company's reputation. If anyone else would care to do the same it cannot do any harm (as long as we are polite). Here is the link: https://chat.ukfast.co.uk/newchat/chat. ... fast.co.uk

I let the Sale main sponsors know(politely)my disappointment at the sort of actions they are being associated with by sponsoring a club which acts in such a despicable way. I said that I was sure that they would disapprove and might want to withdraw sponsorship or put pressure on the club to behave in a more decent manner to avoid further tarnishing the company's reputation. If anyone else would care to do the same it cannot do any harm (as long as we are polite). Here is the link: https://chat.ukfast.co.uk/newchat/chat. ... fast.co.uk

I am working at a law firm at the moment and had a conversation with the sports team about this.

Funny enough the solicitor i spoke with played union for London Irish. He doesn't know the full details but he said he would be shocked if a judge accepted the argument that solomona has retired to take up a new sport.

It's a lot more straight forward than some people are making it.

Solomona had a contract with Cas. He can't just decide he doesn't want it anymore. Nobody can retire from their job or from a contract just when they want to without the agreement of their employer.
Sale knew he had a contract with Cas as they made an offer for him. If they had any contact with Solomona before his "retirement" then they can be done for inducing him to break his contract.

Either way they owe Cas some money.

I agree with this. Plus, there is precedent with Rugby Union clubs having previously paid fees for Rugby League players who were under contract, so then add in that Sale originally made an offer to Cas for Solomona that was rejected and that is enough evidence in my eyes that they knew what they were doing and have induced him to break his contract. They tried to do it legitimately, didn't get what they wanted and so have tried to exploit a loophole, and Solomona clearly can't have followed retirement protocols. Surely any Court in the land would not allow this to happen - if a Court ruled in favour of Solomona/Sale, it sets a very dangerous precedent that would have wide reaching implications on all areas of business where fixed contract terms are used. That precedent and subsequent implications would be much bigger than just RL/RU or sport in general.

Wow Wigan talk about bad timing! Today's tweet. Next stop today is a trip to @SaleSharksRugby and a chance to catch up with old friends @DeacsPaul and @Joshuacharnley. #WarriorsRoadtrip https://twitter.com/WiganWarriorsRL/sta ... 1898277888

Wow Wigan talk about bad timing! Today's tweet. Next stop today is a trip to @SaleSharksRugby and a chance to catch up with old friends @DeacsPaul and @Joshuacharnley. #WarriorsRoadtrip https://twitter.com/WiganWarriorsRL/sta ... 1898277888

Yes - that is bad and shows how out of touch Wigan are. Simple for me - I'll now save myself and family about £120. Boycott the Tigers away game at Wigan in April.

Cas fans have boycotted Wigan away for years....


But on a serious note, that is pretty shoddy from Wigan. They have had it planned for a couple of weeks, but there was nothing stopping them either pulling out or just not publicising it.

Anyway, this is about Solomona / Sale, not nasty orrible Wiggin.

Where are you getting this from? Cas always bring a healthy number.

No. It is about showing solidarity (sorry, horrible commy word) with a fellow member of our sport. Sale show complete and utter disregard for rugby league and our player contracts, then 48 hours later Wigan (who's owner also runs a business with Mr Clarke) head over there on a school trip.

How come Wigan fans boycotted last year's cup semi ?

And all this trouble is caused by Sale. Imagine if a bigger RU club planned to do the same?

Sale debut this weekend. Has he just served his 3 year residency? Stroke of luck that, could be an England player next month.

I imagine they will if Sale and Solomona get away with it this time.
The RFL need to grow some balls on this one. Any player found to be in breach of contract should be banned from the game. Any agent found to have supported a player to breach his contract should be banned too.
If Solomona is prevented from returning to RL and Andy Clarke is banned as an agent, players and agents will need to think very carefully about doing the same in the future.
In fact, the club's have a role to play here too. They should all be refusing to deal with Clarke whilst he is under investigation and if the RFL investigation finds he supported Solomona in breaching his contract. The threat of losing all their clients will soon deter agents from behaving in a similar way to Clarke.
Let the courts deal with this case, but put deterrents in place so it can't happen again.

Rugby union now has it's own retirement saga www.skysports.com/rugby-union/ne ... m=referral

Rugby union now has it's own retirement saga www.skysports.com/rugby-union/ne ... m=referral

Quote ="kobashi"Rugby union now has it's own retirement saga www.skysports.com/rugby-union/ne ... m=referral'" Respect for a contract. Oh. The irony

Quote ="kobashi"Rugby union now has it's own retirement saga www.skysports.com/rugby-union/ne ... m=referral'" Respect for a contract. Oh. The irony

Quote ="kobashi"Rugby union now has it's own retirement saga www.skysports.com/rugby-union/ne ... m=referral'" Respect for a contract. Oh. The irony

Quote ="kobashi"Rugby union now has it's own retirement saga www.skysports.com/rugby-union/ne ... m=referral'" Respect for a contract. Oh. The irony