Lebanon players threatened with jail by governing body

Drew Darbyshire 19 Jun 2019 8:41 AM

Lebanon players have been threatened with criminal prosecution if they continue with their plans to cover up the governing body’s logo on their shirts during Saturday’s Test against Fiji.

The Cedars’ playing personnel have revealed they intend to put tape over the Lebanese Rugby League Federation’s logo on their jerseys during Saturday’s international match against Fiji.

Lebanon’s highest profile players including Robbie Farah and Tim Mannah are leading the actions in protest at the way the governing body is running the game in the West Asian country.

In a statement released by the LRLF, it read: “The Lebanese public prosecutors office has been made aware of the incident and will launch an investigation in coordination with the LRLF.

“It is a criminal offence to denigrate the national emblem of the Republic of Lebanon.”

The statement revealed players would be charged with misconduct and the LRLF would seek “significant monetary fines” if players were found guilty.

In response to the statement from the LRLF, Wests Tigers star Farah admitted the players could boycott Saturday’s Test match in Sydney.

Big respect to @robbiefarah on this. He gets what it means to play international rugby league.

Clubs putting pressure on players not to represent their country needs to be stamped out. https://t.co/FNUMqL4ECI

— Drew Darbyshire (@DarbyshireDrew) June 18, 2019

Speaking to the media, Farah said: “I’m not sure what sort of jurisdiction they have to carry out those threats but we have spoken about it.

“And if that’s the case, we have got some players here that don’t want to cover up the badge and we will seriously think about not taking the field this weekend.

“We are as a playing group united in demanding change.

“Let’s hope that can push the International Federation into some action. We don’t want to go to jail, so we just won’t play.”