Dandy Thunder docked six points, fined 8k and forced to play their next four home games behind closed doors.

Apparently a match official was abused in a recent game, probably their 1-1 draw with Bentleigh.

Dandy fans obviously pissed and have spammed the fuck out of the VPL facebook page.

Sigh. Not a particularly bright move. I can understand needing to enforce order, but that's just shit stupid.

Not surprised, FFV are out to try and destroy traditional clubs so they can get franchises in and reap more money. Scummy c***s.

In the coming years I can see many clubs moving away from FFV affiliated competitions, the fines they have brought in are killing clubs and there is growing discontent.

What a crazy decision, to me it reeks of excessive punishment.

Absolute fucking bullshit.

To be honest, if it's the "incident" we all think it was - it's no different to the "abuse" officials cop in every single other match in any sort of competitive sport when they get obvious decisions wrong.

Unfortunately we don't have the best relationship with FFV

Must've been pretty bad abuse. Heidelberg copped a 3 point deduction and $6k fine because their manager called the lineswoman a slut, so what happened here to get a heavier penalty?

Well basically, everyone cracked the shits as a combination of our players wasting some glorious chances, Bentleigh scoring a goal totally against the run of play, a clear cut handball in the penalty box which wasn't given plus having the equalising goal in the dying minutes ruled out for offside (we eventually scored an equaliser in the 87th minute)

Yes - the referee/linesmen copped a fair bit of abuse from the fans as a result of some of their decisions, but you'd hear no worse at an A-League game. The difference here is there is a fair bit of bad blood between Dandenong Thunder and the FFV. Admittedly, we can be our own worst enemy sometimes - but this punishment is totally uncalled for and quite unfair considering our strong start to the season.

Dandenong Thunder was considering lodging a formal complaint to the FFV at the end of the match due to the poor officiating. I'm not sure whether they decided to go ahead with that though...

another great decision by the brains trust at the ffv
south, dandy, knights, heidelberg and a few more all have been deducted points in the last 2 seasons, in europe there are full scale riots with no deductions.. it should only be the last resort ffv sees it as the first choice for punishment.

Clearly they are trying to ruin the competition on purpose, they only care about the a league, so basically any teams with 'fans' get these massive punishments for any incident

according to the FFC report a Dandy official man a match official.

if that's the case, punishment is defiantly deserved. however, not taking it as truth as that is from the FFV report.

Not at all surprised at this. The FFV just love screwing it's clubs for cash and running them into the ground in order to fund and justify their pet projects (zonal crap etc) that no one gives a stuff about. Simply disgusting outcome here.
Was looking like a decent season with Dandy, Hume, South, Oakleigh all having strong sides but I'm sure the FFV will fuck everyone over somehow.

Points deductions should be the absolute last resort.

If I was Dandy i wouldn't appeal. They probably cop another -6 points like South did last year. The FFV hate 'effniks' that stick up for themselves and clubs, "how dare these pesky wogs question us" type of attitude.

Hopefully its a good game on sunday fellas and the result is decided on the pitch.

Very true my friend.

Abuse of officials should not be tolerated under any circumstance.

FFV want to hit hard until it hurts - which is best way to deter this behaviour in the future.
Escalating the punishment just serves to put ALL clubs on notice.

Get over yourself...

I agree with this




And I agree with this

As I understand it a match official was grabbed by someone connected to Dandy.

FFV have been coming down harder and harder on the clubs recently - no shocks that they've hammered Dandy this time.

Just hope they followed due process this time, otherwise it may cost the FFV more than it costs the club.

But... Agree with the comments about - you don't touch the ref.

No it should not be tolerated, clubs should be punished, but loss of points and banning of home games? come on if the ffa had these rules in place a club like MV would struggle to go past 0 in its points tally.

Clearly a fine and banning the culprits is the logical punishment here, you dont punish the players by docking them points, you dont punish the fans by not allowing them to watch the team they support at home for 4 weeks, and lets face it Dandy are gonna be in the crapper financially with the amount they will lose on top of the fine.

Even as a SM fan we move into 2nd place as a result of this decision but it doesnt sit well with me, we are 3rd as far as im concerned and im sick of the ffv deciding ladder positions, leave that to the players!

the bloke that touched the ref should be banned for life, throw the book at him, not at the players and club!

Edited by southmelb: 28/4/2011 07:32:41 PM

Why not ban the person who did it, and come down hard on them rather than punishing a whole club over one persons actions, outrageous!

Because banning the culprit will not add any money to the coffers at the FFV. Sooner or later the VPL clubs are going to get fed up with the continual money grabbing from the FFV and form a breakaway competition, and the FFV will only have themselves to blame.

Exactly... But unfortunately, there isn't much common sense around these days.

This is what pisses me off, how is the club meant to control the actions of every single supporter for every single minute of the game.

The supporter should be given a hefty ban, and the club forced to play 1 game behind closed doors to get the message across. The docking of points and monetary fine is ridiculous.

Pssht, why weren't Victory docked points or fined or forced to play behind closed doors last season when the fans threw bottles and coins onto the pitch after the 3-3 draw with Brisbane?

This league needs Dandenong, I don't know why the FFV are trying to run them into the ground. It's ridiculous.

Do clubs have a responsibility to provide security at their games?

Are they seriously going to do this to a club for the actions of an individual? I hate being treated as the lowest common denominator!

Pissweak by the FFV

Clubs should not be held accountable by actions of an individual fan

What's to stop me from putting on a oakleigh jacket and spitting at a linesman?

6 point deduction for Oakleigh as a result

Fuck off FFV - an absolute joke

Does Dandenong have form for this type of supporter behaviour or is it a one off?

You simply can't take the FFV seriously when they fine and deduct points from clubs because they don't bother to attend their awards night. This says it all. It's like the AFL deducting -8 points from Collingwood b/c they refuse to go to the Brownlow medal night.
7-8 clubs (I've lost count) have had points deducted over the past year and really there hasn't been any 'real' violence at all. Just the usual crap, abuse etc that happens at any ground worldwide week in week out.
The FFV are simply out of touch, out of control and run by petty bearaucrats loving their 'power' trips.
Anyone that is involved or follows the local game will no doubt agree.

We'll hopefully find out tomorrow night whether there is any justice to be had.



Joffa, Dandenong Thunder fans are extremely passionate and vocal. We are loud when we are winning and loud when we are losing. We've only been in the VPL I think 2 or 3 seasons now, but even when we were in the 2nd Division, we probably had the most consistent fan base in Victoria.

In terms of supporter behaviour, as a football supporter you know that sometimes you wear your heart on your sleeve. There have been minor issues in the past where officials have been sworn at etc, but as SMFC and proud said, that type of behaviour happens in any sport worldwide.

Yes abuse and violence should not be tolerated in sport - but the FFV have definitely stepped over the line and over-reacted with their punishment.

As an aside, the club has never disputed any previous sanction handed down by the FFV, this is a first for us. This shows how strongly we believe in this instance, the course of action undertaken by the FFV is totally unjustifible.

Thanks for answering Heartinator, it does seem like an over the top reaction.