LONDON Broncos have lifted their ban on me, rugbyleaguehub.com reporter Steve Mascord, covering their Championship semi-final against Oldham on Sunday.
Club co-owner Grant Wechsel called at halftime in the NRL preliminary final between the Dolphins and Sydney Roosters at Suncorp Stadium to say: “You are welcome at the game this Sunday.
“If we progress, you are welcome next week too. There is no problem from the point of view of the ownership group.”
However, Wechsel said he had no comment on the story that sparked the dispute, a claim by the club’s former media manager Jake Watson that he was owed £10,000 by the club.
It’s understood a reporter approached Lockyer at Suncorp Stadium and asked him about the ban specifically and Watson’s allegations in general.
Wechsel said he had been contacted by Lockyer, who has been unaware of either issue.
The message from the club’s chief operating officer Joe Cramp that the club could not could not “accommodated” us at Plough Lane has attracted reaction from players turned media men Tulsen Tollett and Brian Carney.
Tollett, regarded as a club great at the Broncos, Tweeted: “The one sport I never thought this would happen in. The one sport I dreamt of growing up.
“The one sport I have first hand experience of on both sides of the world, and the disparity between the two seems to be getting bigger in every way.”
Carney commented: “If you have been refused accreditation because of your reporting, that raises a significant press freedom issue.
“A club is, of course, entitled to dispute or correct journalism. It should not, however, use access to a game as leverage over a journalist because it dislikes what he has written.
“If there is another explanation, the club should give it.”
Watson has doubled down on his claims on social media channels since going public on Wednesday.
Challenged in the timing of his complaints with so much happening at the club , he wrote on Twitter: “The decision was taken now as they have stopped replying to my emails after repeated promises to pay have not been forthcoming.
“I want the club to be successful, I’m a fan, but I also have bills and this is a very large sum of money.”
I immediately made other plans for Sunday when I received the text from Cramp and I will not be attending or covering Sunday’s game.
