Halifax forward Ed Barber fined after being found guilty of RFL breaches over tweet

Halifax forward Ed Barber has been fined after being found guilty of breaches of the RFL’s Operational Rules, Social Media Code of Conduct and the Respect Policy.

Barber has been fined £1,000, with £750 of it has been suspended until the end of 2021 – and a reprimand has been entered on his disciplinary record.

His punishment has however been mitigated by his contrition, which included volunteering for educational courses on inclusion and diversity.

The punishment relates to a tweet posted on July 30, which was found by an Operational Rules Tribunal to have contained Unacceptable Behaviour and Language, which by implication targeted individuals or groups on the grounds of ethnic origin and/or religion.

The tribunal noted that such offences were “very serious and would not be tolerated”. However, it gave Barber credit for his admissions and the fact he had “taken voluntary steps to seek help, to educate himself with regard to Equality Inclusion and Diversity and his expressed intention to continue in that undertaking in the future”.

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