Salford Red Devils: Super League side have takeover approved by RFL following St Helens selection controversy | Rugby League News

The Rugby Football League (RFL) has approved the takeover of Salford Red Devils, clearing the way for the Super League side to field a full-strength side against Leeds Rhinos on Saturday.

The takeover by a consortium led by businessman Dario Berta was completed earlier this month on the eve of the Super League season, but the fact it hadn’t been approved left the team operating under salary cap restrictions going into their opening fixture against St Helens on February 15.

In a move that has resulted in a subsequent investigation, Salford head coach Paul Rowley named a hugely weakened side that was on the receiving end of a record 82-0 drubbing.

While salary cap restrictions denied the Red Devils the use of a number of senior players for the match, Rowley had fielded a much stronger squad in their 46-10 Challenge Cup victory over Midlands Hurricanes a week prior.

An RFL statement on Thursday said: “The RFL has today approved the Change of Control and all Owners and Directors Tests whilst also lifting the Sustainability Cap that has applied to Salford Red Devils since they were given an advance on their central distribution in December.

“The club’s new ownership group have met the conditions that were necessary.

“All Salford’s first team squad are therefore available for selection for Saturday’s Betfred Super League Round Two fixture against Leeds Rhinos – with their initial squad of 21 due to be submitted by midday today.”

A Salford statement said: “Salford Red Devils is pleased to announce that the takeover of the club has been formally approved by RFL Commercial, following the completion of the final requirements.

“As such, the club will be in a position to field a full-strength squad on Saturday for the Salford Red Devil’s opening home fixture against Leeds Rhinos.”

Shortly after the statements were released, Salford named a full strength-squad to take on Leeds on Saturday, live on Sky Sports at 3pm.

Saints’ 15-try romp was the biggest winning margin in Super League history and drew criticism from rivals, including Warrington head coach Sam Burgess, that it had compromised the integrity of the competition.

Salford boss Rowley said after the Saints defeat that he had been told he could not use any of the players who had featured against Midlands Hurricanes in the Challenge Cup, and that he chose not to name a mixture of youth and experience.

RFL chiefs met on Monday morning and determined the club could have a case to answer over a potential breach of competition rules, which require that each club “has at all times a squad of players sufficient to meet its obligations in all competitions”.

The investigation could result in Salford being charged with a breach of operational rules, which if proven would expose the club to a range of potential sanctions.

‘Like having a Ferrari without insurance’

Sky Sports’ Jon Wilkin:

“I just find it interesting that coach Paul Rowley said ‘it was like having a Ferrari in your garage that you couldn’t drive’.

“My answer to that would be, ‘Paul it’s not’. It’s like having a Ferrari in your garage that you can’t insure, can’t afford to put petrol in, and you have just got a nice Ferrari to say you have a nice car, rather than the ability to use it.

“Every Super League club has a requirement from wealthy ownership to bail them out of cash flow positions. Twelve months ago, I said it was alarm bells at Salford because they didn’t have that.

“They have taken it to the eve of the season and what they tried to do was embarrass the game by fielding such a weak team. It was irresponsible to do so.

“I thought it was a bad look for the sport, a bad look for Paul Rowley and a bad look for the game.

“It’s accepted in the game that you rest players. Teams before big games rest players. I’ve never known it to be acceptable for that to happen in round one, and not when the week before Paul had fielded a team worth £1.2m on the pitch.”

Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+

Daniel Dubois vs Joseph Parker and the Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol rematch will be live on Saturday February 22 on Sky Sports Box Office. Book now!