CHARLESTOWN president Shane Tull says he is concerned about the integrity of the Northern NSW National Premier League and FFA Cup after the Guy Bates registration debacle, while Maitland counterpart Chris Rafferty will seek further explanation about the bungle from the governing body.
The two club bosses told the Herald they would contact Northern NSW Football about the revelation on Friday that Bates had played seven NPL matches and two FFA Cup games for Adamstown without securing an international transfer clearance.
NNSWF came across the discrepancy when asked about a clearance for Bates, who was set to return to Northern Ireland after round 12 of the NPL.
A NNSWF investigation found it had incorrectly issued Adamstown a registration for Bates.
It also found a help-desk person had earlier misdirected Bates through Football Federation Australia’s online MyFootball player registration process.
Bates and Adamstown were cleared of any wrongdoing and not penalised, but the former Jets striker was removed from the Rosebud roster.
The Englishman joined Adamstown this season from Northern Ireland first-division club Glenavon, where he remains contracted.
Rafferty said he would write to NNSWF “to seek further explanation” about the registration bungle.
Bates scored and set up Rosebud’s two other goals in a 3-1 win over Maitland in round six.
The Magpies are squarely in the relegation mix, sitting second-last on four points after eight rounds.
“On the face of it, it doesn’t look like a satisfactory outcome,” Rafferty said.
“It could definitely have a negative impact on us in a potential relegation battle.
“We are definitely going to seek an explanation and get to the bottom of it.
“I need to know the details about how it all came about, because I do the registrations for Maitland, I know how the system works and I can’t understand how it could have slipped through the cracks.”
Tull said while Adamstown were not to blame for the mess, the integrity of the NPL and FFA Cup was in question.
Ironically, last-placed Charlestown’s only NPL win came against Bates and Adamstown. However, a Bates-inspired Rosebud did knock Charlestown out of the FFA Cup.
“By anyone’s reckoning Adamstown have fielded an illegal player for seven NPL games and two FFA Cup games, and whether it’s FFA’s or Northern’s fault, this could affect relegation, the finals or the premiership,” Tull said.
He did not believe Adamstown should lose points but said “there should be no negative outcomes for any club as a by-product of a mistake by FFA or Northern NSW Football”.
Hamilton president George Sofianos said his club needed to have further talks about the issue but “what happened is not right”. Olympic had a 2-2 draw with Adamstown.
“It’s against all the regulations Northern have put into place, and they were the ones telling us we had to make sure everyone is cleared,” Sofianos said. “Yet there has been an error somewhere that has been costly to a few clubs.
“It shouldn’t happen and there has to be some sort of discussion with Northern on how this happened and why.”
South Cardiff president James Masters, whose side lost 3-0 to a Bates-less Rosebud last Saturday, said his club “was happy to let it slide”.
“By everything we were told, Adamstown had done everything they were instructed to do and the mistake was beyond their control,” Masters said.
Broadmeadow president Steve Foteff said it was a mess but Adamstown had received written approval from NNSWF for Bates to play and “all clubs would proceed with that in a position of comfort”.
Like Tull, Foteff hoped the oversight would not impact clubs at either end of the table, as was the case in FFA’s finals ban on salary cap cheats Perth Glory.
“At the end of the day we’d all like to ensure this doesn’t affect the finals series or relegation-promotion,” Foteff said. “And that’s what FFA sought to do with Perth, to ensure they finished in no-man’s land. That’s the ideal situation and what should happen, but how do you do that?”
Edgeworth secretary Trevor Van Kemenade said his club had not discussed the issue.
Lambton Jaffas football manager Chris Sneddon said he “sympathises with clubs who had dropped points to Adamstown, like we did, but it is what it is”.
“Hopefully it doesn’t impact on anyone, especially in relegation or the finals series,” Sneddon said.
Weston football manager Shane Johnson could see no other outcome than the course taken by NNSWF.
“From the evidence presented, Adamstown haven’t done anything wrong, so I don’t see how you can take any points off them,” Johnson said.
“We’ve got more reason to complain than the rest of them because they knocked us out of the FFA Cup 6-0 and we had a 0-0 draw with them first NPL game.
“It’s not acceptable what’s happened. Poor administration has allowed this to happen and clubs have been affected, but you can’t take points off Northern or fine them.”
source:theherald.com.au
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