A FILM about the life of rugby player Ady Spencer is being developed by the production company behind Sense8.

Ady grew up in Warrington and played at junior level at Woolston Rovers.

He hit the headlines when he was banned from rugby union after playing for Cambridge University in the Varsity Match against Oxford University in 1994.

Ady’s only crime was to have previously played alongside professional rugby league players which was unacceptable to chiefs of the 15-man code at the time.

Rugby league originated more than a century ago when clubs in the north got fed up with the dictates of the London-based rugby union.

Before the rugby union Varsity Match, Ady had played rugby league at professional level, albeit unpaid, with the London Crusaders.

His ban prompted questions in parliament and an early day motion about the ‘double standards’ of rugby union led by Doug Hoyle, former MP for Warrington North.

The film about the controversy will be called Code Of Honour.

Screenwriter David Raymond, who most recently wrote the mini-series In Harm’s Way about UN peacekeepers, is preparing the treatment for the biopic.

The film will be developed and produced by Leon Clarance, chief executive of Motion Picture Capital, whose credits include Come and Find Me, starring Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, and Netflix series Sense8 which was co-created by the Wachowskis (The Matrix).

Leon said: “I’ve always been fascinated by Ady’s life achievements and what it meant for the sport despite the controversy.

“As a contemporary undergraduate at Cambridge, fellow Blue, and Hawks’ Club member, I’ve always wanted to tell Ady’s story.

“Ady was as an undergraduate and that larger-than-life character every Cambridge sportsman wanted to be.

“Having the opportunity to bring this true story to the big screen for everyone’s benefit is a very exciting journey I’m delighted to take with the talented David Raymond.”