Woods loses Knights claim

Head Coach of Whitehaven RLFC Dave Woods has lost to his former club York City Knights in court this week, claiming unpaid bonuses which the club said he did not earn.

At a three day hearing in Leeds this week, the judge ruled in the Knights favour that Woods did nothing to contribute to the club staying in the Championship for the 2012 season. Woods’ claim for a five figure bonus payment was rejected by the judge who agreed with the clubs position, which was supported by the Rugby Football League, that the Knights avoided relegation due to a re-structure of the league and not in any way as a result of the performance of Dave Woods.

Knights Executive Chairman John Guildford added:

“It was unnecessary to go through all of this and waste many people’s time and money when it was clear to any reasonable person that Woods did not help the Knights avoid relegation by his own performance. Unfortunately Woods did not believe this and needed the court to decide, as they have done. The only people who gain from this are the lawyers and this should have been avoided. We are glad that this is now over and the club will now get back to concentrating on the matter of staying in the Kingstone Press Championship on our own merit”.

Woods was in fact offered a larger amount as a settlement to drop the case than he was awarded by the judge for two months notice pay, even though he was unable to work during this period as he was working for St Helens in Australia throughout October 2011.

The judge also decided that the club were not entitled to claim back overpayments made to Woods for travel to and from Gateshead and sided with Woods who claimed that he was not living in York and continued to commute from Gateshead.

The Knights face Dave woods’ current club Whitehaven at Huntington Stadium this Sunday (3pm) in a crucial Kingstone Press Championship match as both clubs battle for a play-off spot.