William Eve wrote:
So, just to confirm the exact window regarding your fertile imagination.
Segeyaro announces on 26 Nov, 2016 that he's not returning to Leeds.
GH announces on 5 Dec, 2016 that Segeyaro is available for transfer for a fee of £250K.
Therefore, the club may have told Segeyaro to return to the club early during that 9 day window above, but he didn't return early, and certainly not by the 5 Dec, 2016, hence the termination of his contract, yes?
We can bin Jan 3rd, 2017 as an irrelevance then?
OK.
If you say so
All the dates are an irrelevance. If both Leeds and Segeyaro wanted to honour the contract, even now, they could. Its not even a contract issue.
But Segeyaro isnt suing Leeds for breach of contract, nor unpaid wages, likely because he doesnt have much of an argument. In fact Ayoub is arguing the complete opposite, that Segeyaro wasnt contracted at all.
Seems a little nonsensical from Ayoub to be honest, nobody is arguing for the enforcement of the contract, it is accepted by all parties to have ended. Ayoub's argument seems to be that when Segeyaro agreed to be registered as a Leeds player until 2018, he shouldnt have been registered as a Leeds player until 2018.
Ayoub's biggest problem is that the NRL wont register Segeyaro not because of Leeds contract with him (after all, everyone accepts this no longer is applicable), but because the RFL have him registered as a Leeds player, for the RFL to register him as a Leeds player Leeds must submit a registration form, as must Segeyaro. This would be in contravention of RLIF regulations. Ayoub is claiming that the RFL must transfer a registration he is also arguing doesnt exist.
On top of Ayoub's argument demanding the RFL needing to transfer a registration he is also arguing doesnt exist, his further problem is that there are processes and procedures a player must follow to be declared a free agent. Processes it is impossible for him to have followed (because he is a registered Leeds player with the RFL). So not only will Ayoub need to prove that Segeyaro had no playing contract with Leeds, he will need to prove Segeyaro's registration that the NRL want transfered doesnt exist, he will then need to explain why he has been negotiating with clubs despite not following the process to have himself registered as a free agent.
Once he has done all that, he will need to hope the RFL don't refuse the transfer on their 'catch-all' clause of a reasonable belief that doing so would bring the game in to disrepute.
