FORMER Tongan international prop Richie Fa’aoso’s chances of playing with Wingham in this year’s Group Three competition look remote because the Country Rugby League’s insurers refuse to register him.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The insurers, SLE, took this stance as Fa’aoso broke his neck playing for Manly in 2013, the club claims. He retired soon after sustaining the injury, however, he played with Parramatta in 2014 and has since been cleared by a specialist.
The process started on Thursday March 15 when Wingham first applied for a clearance from Parramatta. This was obtained on March 27 along with a clearance from the NRL.
However, on Wednesday April 4 East Coast regional manager, Kevin Hill, contacted Wingham secretary Mark Spencer advising the club to contact SLE Insurance on the matter.
“This is due to the player’s well known and documented NRL injury history,’’ he wrote in an e-mail.
Mr Spencer then phoned and e-mailed Peter Traynor for SLE.
He replied: “As advised, we are concerned with Richard’s pre-existing neck/shoulder conditions and as such unfortunately we are not happy to give him any cover either under the CRL policy or an individual policy.
“I also note last year the CRL denied his clearance requests to play for a CRL club for insurance reasons so I assume the same would apply now.’’
Related reading: Wingham wait for Fa’aoso
After inquiring if there was an appeals process, Mr Spencer received an e-mail from SLE managing director, Brad French that said: “Unfortunately we are unable to offer cover for this player. As Peter explained this is based on his previous medical history. We have also had to advise the QRL (Queensland Rugby League) of this earlier in the season as they too had asked this question.”
The Tigers have since organised insurance for Fa’aoso with a local company TJL. This has been lodged with the CRL.
Wingham also have a clearance for Fa’aoso to return to the game from Gold Coast Spine, signed by orthopaedic surgeon, Matthew Scott-Young.
“The patient is currently under my care following spine surgery that took place on April 25 2016. Lisiate Fa’aoso has had an uncomplicated recovery. I certify Lisiate Fa’aoso is fit to return to all his activities of daily living, including competitive rugby league,’’ the clearance reads.
This is dated Wednesday June 14, 2017.
However, Mr French replied: “Unfortunately we cannot cover players with such a serious pre-existing condition. This also has implications for the CRL’s liability policy.’’
The matter was discussed at a meeting of the CRL board on Friday April 6.
“The board resolved that if the player could not obtain a medical certificate/clearance that allowed SLE to insure him then the CRL would not register him as a player,’’ CRL operations manager Robert Lowrie said in an e-mail to the Tigers.
An insurance policy from the company TJL was e-mailed to Robert Lowrie and CRL chief executive Terry Quinn on Wednesday. TJL representative Matt McQuillan later phoned Terry Quinn on the matter.
“Matt phoned me saying that CRL were not going to register Richie Fa'aoso,’’ Mr Spencer said.