Aiye cops 8-match ban

WHITEHAVEN: Whitehaven captain Dion Aiye has been suspended for eight matches following a Rugby Football League (RFL) tribunal after he was charged with misconduct.
Any professional rugby league player is automatically subject to a hearing if they are convicted of a criminal offence.
Last week, Aiye was given an 18-month community order with 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 240 hours of unpaid work, after pleading guilty to a charge of assault by beating and harassment.
Aiye had kicked his ex-girlfriend in the stomach and held her by the throat, leaving her in fear for her life.
The court imposed a five-year restraining order banning Aiye from any contact with his ex-girlfriend or her daughter. And the RFL have handed Aiye a significant playing suspension, banning him for almost a third of the championship season following his criminal conviction.
The RFL said that in reaching the decision, the tribunal considered the offence and the sentence handed down by the court, and the restrictions the player had already been subject to for a period preceding his conviction.
However, Aiye will miss Whitehaven’s next eight matches as a result.
Meanwhile, Whitehaven came under fire for allowing Aiye on the pitch just days after being sentenced for assaulting his ex-partner.
Aiye, 35, was branded an ‘entitled bully’ by a judge and slammed for his treatment of women as he was sentenced at Preston Crown Court on Thursday for assault by beating and harassment.
Aiye was named in the Whitehaven squad for Sunday’s game against Swinton Lions and was brought onto the pitch as a substitute player.
The Rugby Football League (RFL) has said that Aiye was automatically guilty of a misconduct because he had a criminal conviction.
Head coach Jonty Gorley said Aiye had been stripped of his captaincy after he had pleaded guilty last month “because it was the right thing to do”. – News & Star