Ben Barba may be forced to look overseas for a career lifeline after Rugby Australia said he wasn’t welcome in their code if he’s banned from the NRL .
The English RFL said it would respect any ban issued against him by the NRL and RA boss Ralene Castle said it would do the same.
Castle didn’t want to comment specifically about Barba’s situation but said there was also an unwritten agreement between codes regarding banned players.
“In relation to players who have received bans from one sport there is an etiquette agreement that you can’t then just go from rugby league to rugby union and play the next week,” Castle said on Monday.
“I would expect that anything in relation to a situation like that, that would stand because when you’re talking about issues at that level we need to make sure the codes are supporting each other.”
Castle said she believed that extended to overseas clubs when it involved a rugby player but couldn’t rule out a rugby league player such as Barba finding a new home.
“I think it’s slightly more challenging across international boundaries when it’s across codes but that’s what we have in Australia,” she said.
Barba has had some rugby experience, joining French giants Toulon on a $2.5 million two-year deal back in 2017 but was cut after just three months and four games.
Barba was sacked by North Queensland Cowboys last week after club officials viewed CCTV footage of an incident at a Townsville casino over the Australia Day weekend.
He is alleged to have assaulted his partner and mother of his four children, Ainslie Currie, and is being investigated by police.
NRL chief Todd Greenberg said on Sunday he would refuse to register any future contract if Barba was found guilty.
The 29-year-old was already on his last chance after being forced out of the NRL in 2016 after recording his second illicit drugs strike following Cronulla’s grand final win.