Weekly Times |RED Cliffs recruit Nick Stevens will take the Sunraysia league to court if it doesn’t lift its ban on him playing, according to his lawyer.
The Sunraysia league board earlier this month announced it would refuse to allow Stevens, a former AFL player with Port Adelaide and Carlton, to register as a player or coach with the league until his criminal appeal proceedings were finalised.
Stevens is appealing after he was last year found guilty of several domestic abuse-related charges, which will be heard later this year.
Stevens’ lawyer David Tonkin said court action against the league ban was the “ultimate option if it can’t be resolved otherwise”.
“If the league refuses to change its stance that’s where it will be going according to my instruction,” he said.
The league board, in banning Stevens until the appeal proceedings were completed, said Stevens’ appointment as a player or coach at Red Cliffs was “prejudicial to the interests of the league”.
Red Cliffs president Reg Cua last week said the club did not agree with the board’s decision and would be seeking a decision “higher up” or “clarification on what the real ruling is”.
