FORMER Pontypool rugby coach Steve Jones yesterday won the right to an employment tribunal as he battles his old club for compensation. Mr Jones, ex-head coach at Pontypool RFC, earned £7,000 a year before tax until September last year, when he resigned after being offered a new role.

But the 53-year-old, of Bryngwyn Road, Pontypool, is suing the club for constructive dismissal, in a case centring around an incident on July 13 last year which director of rugby Gareth Hale found "offensive".

No more details were given at an employment tribunal pre-hearing in Cardiff yesterday. At that hearing, Mr Jones succeeded in applying for a full hearing.

Representing the club, director Richard Harry claimed that although Mr Jones was the side's coach from 1999, his employment officially started in 2003 when a new company called Pontypool RFC 2003 was set up to avoid going into administration and, with it, being relegated.

He said that before the new company was formed the club was so cash-strapped the Welsh Rugby Union could have relegated them to the National League's lowest division.

Giving evidence, Mr Jones, who has yet to receive a P45, said he continued to take training and look after players while the club changed hands in the run-up to the 2003-4 season, meaning his job was continuous.

Representing him, Jeremy Consitt told the hearing: "He's not necessarily standing on the side of a rugby pitch coaching the team, but this is the period in which it's his responsibility to select new players, plan training schedules and arrange for new players and existing players to be signed."

Tribunal chairwoman Dr Rachel Davies said Mr Jones was technically unemployed for five months between liquidating the old company and establishing the new company, but she said he was continuously employed as head coach from 1999 because he took training and oversaw negotiations with players.

"He worked, together with others, on a voluntary basis, purely for the love of the club and the game," he said.

"Common sense dictates the club would have to be in a fit state to start the new season."

The case will now be listed for a pre-hearing review.