Adelaide Footy League begrudgingly accepts SANFL tribunal ruling, clears Westminster Old Scholars for finals

The Adelaide Footy League has grudgingly accepted a SANFL tribunal ruling that clears a local club of breaking the rules and places it in finals at the expense of a rival.

The Adelaide Footy League has begrudgingly accepted a last-gasp ruling made by an independent SANFL tribunal which has cleared one of its clubs of a rule-break and will see it play finals on Saturday.

Westminster Old Scholars, which fielded allegedly unregistered South Augusta captain Darcy Kildea in a round 14 win over Scotch Old Collegians, was cleared of any wrongdoing by the tribunal on Wednesday night.

The Dragons have now been repaid their stripped premiership points by the Adelaide Footy League, meaning they will take Scotch Old Collegians’ spot in the elimination final against Edwardstown.

“We have begrudgingly accepted the outcome, though not without exhausting all possible outcomes for not only the Scotch Old Collegians but the overarching integrity of our competition,” league chief John Kernahan said.

“It would reek of hypocrisy to offer a defiance to the outcome when we have recently lamented an emerging culture of challenging the ‘umpire’s decision’ as it were.

“Westminster will play tomorrow however this matter will be addressed long after the match has been played.”

Adelaide Footy League chief John Kernahan said the league had accepted a SANFL tribunal’s findings on Wednesday night. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

In contrast to the independent tribunal’s findings, the Adelaide Footy League had originally found the permit for Kildea was not valid and had not been approved.

Kernahan said the league was still comfortable with its findings and expressed empathy for Scotch OC.

“We staunchly maintain our own regulations and support our own findings and to be fair, the South Australian Community Football League also found Westminster OS to be in breach,” he said.

“The Scotch OC FC has been failed and has every right to feel aggrieved.

“We find our regulations being compromised by a contradiction in interpretations of the rules between ours and SANFL’s – it is simply not good enough and we all need to be better.

“It is our responsibility to our member clubs and we make no apologies that those differences will be remedied before we return for season 2023.”

Darcy Kildea (pictured) is a former Westminster OS FC player and represented the club on a break during SA Country Football Championships. Picture: Westminster Old Scholars Football Club

A SANFL spokesperson said “the process followed current rules and regulations, however we use all tribunal cases as an opportunity to review processes and ensure they best support community football.”

Scotch OC president Andrew Camens said his club accepted the decision but was disappointed at not being included in the process.

“The club acknowledges and accepts the decision of the SANFL tribunal which results in our A Grade team no longer qualifying for finals,” Camens said.

“SOCFC was not a party to this process and had not been requested to, nor given any opportunity to attend or make submissions to the tribunal on Wednesday night.

“While we disagree with the process and verdict, we accept the terms of our affiliation with the AdFL and decisions that are made in line with that.

Scotch OC president Andrew Camens (middle) was disappointed with the outcome. Picture: Scotch Old Collegians Football Club

“We feel for all players, coaches, volunteers and supporters (including those who had travelled from interstate) who had been expecting to play in an elimination final tomorrow and we also accept this compromises Edwardstown’s preparation.”

Amid what has now been almost a month-long ordeal, Westminster Old Scholars said it looked forward to having its points returned and playing finals.

“The club applied for and received a permit in accordance with the mandated online player management system and this was upheld as valid at the tribunal hearing,” a club spokesperson said.

“This issue has been an unwanted distraction for all involved – at its core we are all in sport for the love of it, respect its rules, regulators and administrators and would prefer to spend our time focused on the game.

“The club is pleased by the decision and looks forward to playing on Saturday.”

The Dragons will play away at Edwardstown at 2.30pm on Saturday.