TORONTO (CP) — Bill MacFarland, president of the World Hockey Association, said Friday the reported signing of an 18-year-old hockey player, Ken Linseman, by Birmingham Bulls is in direct conflict with league bylaws.

“That signing would be precluded by league regulations against signing underage players or staking a claim on them without going through a draft,” said MacFarland.

Earlier in the week, a Toronto newspaper reported that Bulls’ owner John Bassett had signed Ken Linseman, an 18-year-old center with Kingston Canadians of the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A League, to a contract in February.

Bassett claimed at the time that “anyone who has any knowledge of the law realizes they (18-year-old hockey player) are legally in a position to sign professional contracts.”

It was just such an outlook that got the WHA into conflict with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association three years ago and two years ago the league subsequently took a hands-off stance insofar as signing players still of junior age without first going through the universal amateur draft process.