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Own goal: game result reversal leads to bans[/size]
Heath Gilmore
June 8, 2008
Source:
Sun Herald (smh.com.au)SOCCER officials and a teenage captain have been banned after a match result was reversed.
Football NSW handed out the bans last week after the result between the Henwood Park Hawks and the Quakers Hill Juniors was changed in a Cullinan Cup game, a statewide amateur knockout competition for nearly 700 teams.
The penalties followed the Quakers Hill team winning 3-2 in the May 18 cup game at Whalan Reserve in Sydney.
Afterwards officials from the winners suggested the match result be reversed.
Blacktown And Districts Soccer Football Association secretary Jack Taylor said the Quakers Hill club was devastated by the incident. He said the result had smeared the reputation of football in the area. The club declined to comment.
"I think you had good people who did a silly thing without realising the seriousness of their actions," Mr Taylor said.
"I understand the Quakers Hill team felt they didn't have enough players to continue in the competition, so they thought they were doing the right thing."
Last week the Football NSW General Purposes Tribunal found a Quakers Hill official guilty of misconduct and suspended him from the game until the end of 2012.
The referee suffered a similar fate.
Henwood Park Hawks captain Jamie Potter was banned for 18 months.
The tribunal directed that both teams will not accrue points or goals for the next four competition matches in their district competitions.
Hawks club president Rod Buik said team captain Potter had not asked the referee to change the May 18 result nor passed that incorrect result on to officials.
"Our team, which is aged from 15 to 23, went down to Sydney for the game without the coach, who had a prior commitment," he said.
Mr Buik, who did not travel to Sydney with the team from their Wagga Wagga home base, said he told Football NSW about the scandal immediately after being alerted. He said the club may appeal the penalties.
Football NSW refused to comment until the appeal process expired this week.
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Geez. Why didn't they just ask through the proper channels? And the suspension till the end of 2012 is a bit harsh.