Catalans Dragons chairman Bernard Guasch was conspicuous by his absence at a meeting of Super League clubs in Salford, where the hot topic for discussion was his controversial signing of Israel Folau.
The other clubs specifically requested the presence of Guasch after he ignored the will of both Super League and the Rugby Football League in signing the dual-code international, who was sacked by Rugby Australia last May for posting homophobic comments on social media.
The issue angered most of the clubs and Hull KR chairman Neil Hudgell wrote a letter to the Catalans warning them of possible legal consequences in the event of his club losing out financially due to the presence in Super League of Folau.
Crews from the BBC and Sky outside the AJ Bell Stadium as delegates arrive for a meeting of Super League clubs where the signing of Israel Folau will be the hot topic fir discussion pic.twitter.com/fvKn4RPlwP — Ian Laybourn (@ILaybourn) February 5, 2020
Guasch, who has defended his club's decision to hand Folau a 12-month contract, was expected to attend the regular meeting at the AJ Bell Stadium but had not arrived when it got under way at 10am.
Folau arrived in Perpignan from Australia at the weekend to begin training with his new team-mates ahead of Sunday's round-two fixture at Wakefield.
The former Waratahs full-back or winger has not played any rugby since last April and it is 10 years since his last league match, but the Catalans are short of outside backs and coach Steve McNamara could be tempted to name him in his 21-man squad on Friday.
