Former York Rugby League Club captain Stuart Flowers has been banned from the game for three months for taking an outlawed substance.

The second row forward tested positive for the drug ephedrine following the Wasps' 27-6 Second Division victory over Oldham in May.

Flowers, who is still in dispute with the club over unpaid wages, pleaded guilty to the offence before a Rugby Football League hearing in Leeds last night.

The RFL panel, which included chief executive Neil Tunnicliffe, handed down the minimum ban for a drug-related offence.

Flowers declined to comment at length about the ban but told the Evening Press that he had "made a mistake" by taking medication to get over a heavy cold.

The 27-year-old former Castleford and Hunslet player added: "I was full of cold. We had that Oldham game. I didn't want to let the lads down.

"It has been a hard two months. I will be back. I went there and told the truth and they accepted that and gave me the minimum sentence."

The Oldham victory, on May 24, completed a run of five successive victories under Flowers' captaincy, a sequence which shot the club to the top of the Second Division.

Flowers declared that confirmation of the positive test had later begun to affect his form, culminating in his sending off for an alleged high tackle against Doncaster Dragons on June 28 - his last outing for the club.

The player, signed from Hunslet last December, has stayed away from the club since July 16, the date of the first of a series of meetings between players and directors concerning the financial state of the club.

Flowers backed the players' decision to boycott the club's remaining fixtures and then refused to sign an agreement drawn up by chairman Trevor Cox, which guaranteed the payment of outstanding wages at the end of September.

Following the return of winger Leigh Deakin last Friday, Flowers remains the only squad member not to sign the agreement.

Wasps coach Dean Robinson today declined to comment on the ban.

RFL spokesman Peter Rowe, meanwhile, confirmed the three month ban.

"Stuart Flowers tested positive for the banned substance ephedrine after the match between York and Oldham on May 24," said Rowe.

"He pleaded guilty to the offence and has been banned from the game for three months. It is RFL policy to state the facts and no more.

"There are unlimited powers available in dealing with these cases and each case is taken on individual merits and mitigating circumstances." He added that the tests were carried out independently by the UK Sports Council.

Rugby league was among the first sports to endorse the Sports Council's recommendations for drug testing in the late 1980s.

Former Whitehaven forward Dennis Smith was banned after testing positive for ephedrine before a game against Dewsbury in January 1995. Smith also received a three month ban.

South African winger Jamie Bloem, now playing in Super League with Halifax Blue Sox, was hit with a two year ban in 1994 for using steroids.

And former Swinton winger Barrie Ledger received a six month ban for taking cannabis, testing positive following a game against York in 1994.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.