Mayfield expelled from Challenge Cup

Mayfield were left reeling on Tuesday after being expelled from the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.

Mayfield were charged with fielding an ineligible player after a mix up when re-registering several players at the end of January.

Five registration forms were filled in and sent to the RFL for processing, inexplicably one of these forms was not processed leaving that player unregistered.

The club thought the player was registered and hence he was selected and played in the Challenge Cup game against the British Police.

The Disciplinary Committee conceded that Mayfield had not intentionally sought to gain any advantage but had made an honest mistake.

However, the onus is on clubs to verify that all players had been duly registered and as this had not been done, thereby breaking the rules of the cup, it left the panel with no option but to expel the Rochdale club.

Mayfield Pro Ian Kershaw said: “I would like to offer my apologies to supporters and especially to the players for any disappointment caused.”