Adelaide Footy League changes result, handing Henley a victory, Port District a loss, after player returns to field too early
It’s a decision that may have big ramifications on the Adelaide Footy League’s top competition. The result of a drawn game has been overturned due to a yellow-carded player’s rule breach.
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The Adelaide Footy League has overturned the result of a game in which a team kicked two goals when one of its players was not supposed to be on the field.
Henley and Port District were level on 45 points – 7.3 to 6.9 – at the end of their division one match at Henley on Saturday but on Thursday, the league awarded a win to the bottom-placed Sharks.
In shades of the 19th man saga from last year’s SANFL preliminary final, an Adelaide Footy League rules and regulations committee found Port District player James Batty had returned to the field too early from a yellow card send-off and that the Magpies booted two goals, including one by Batty himself, while he was meant to still be on the bench.
Under league rules, players who receive a yellow card for misconduct must spend 10 minutes on the interchange before they can come back on, but they can be replaced.
An umpire yellow-carded Batty at quarter-time and he re-entered the ground about seven minutes into the second quarter.
The league took away the two goals (12 points) from Port District’s score, giving Henley the win.
Henley football director Brian Leys was pleased with the outcome.
“I think it was pretty cut and dry,” Leys said.
“It’s a difficult situation ... but we certainly support the Adelaide Footy League’s decision.”
Awarding Henley the victory could have a big effect on the top-tier competition.
The Sharks (2-8-1) were bottom after Saturday but the win moved them up to ninth with a 3-8 record – the same as eighth-placed Adelaide University and new cellar-dweller Tea Tree Gully.
Port District stayed fourth.
League chief executive John Kernahan said the Magpies acted in good faith but had broken the rules, which stated yellow-carded players needed to be off for 10 continuous minutes on the interchange steward’s clock and there was no stopping for time-on.
“Whilst unfortunate, we think our application of this rule is fair and reasonable and certainly in the spirit of the game,” Kernahan said.
“The fact this has resulted in a change to the outcome of the match is immaterial to our thinking.
“Not only was a player on the ground who shouldn’t have been, in a curious twist the player is the very player who scored one of the two goals scored whilst he was on the field.”
In the past two years, SA footy has had two well-known cases of a club breaching the rules by having a player on the ground who should not have been.
North Adelaide registered one goal and one behind with a 19th man on the ground for three minutes and 39 seconds in the SANFL preliminary final against Woodville-West Torrens in September, and went on to beat the Eagles by five points.
A SANFL tribunal upheld the result of the game – instead fining North $10,000 and docking four premiership points from it for 2019 – allowing the Roosters to play in the following week’s grand final, which they won.
In May last year, Waikerie’s score – and 44-point lead – was wiped after mistakenly fielding an extra player in a Riverland Football League game and the club ended up sustaining its first loss in 30 matches.
“It’s not a new decision-making process for us,” Kernahan said.
“On occasion we have made the same determination of score adjustment if we have been able to determine what score was added to the scoreboard if there happened to be a 19th man type scenario.
“We believe applying the Laws of the Game are paramount to protecting the game’s integrity at all levels.”
Port District officials have been contacted for comment.