Salisbury West Football Club application to rejoin Adelaide Footy League rejected
The Adelaide Footy League has denied a banned club’s bid to rejoin the competition in 2020 after an investigation revealed its list of players committed to the club for next season was inaccurate.
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Banned football club Salisbury West’s bid to return to the Adelaide Footy League next season has been denied after it failed to produce a list of 55 committed players for 2020.
The club provided names of 57 players but a league investigation revealed only 37 had confirmed their intentions to play for the Tigers.
The league announced on Thursday the application had been denied and “considers the matter closed”.
Salisbury West was banned from the competition in 2018 after its captain, Adam Jones, was suspended for 28 weeks following four separate incidents a the qualifying final.
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The Tigers had previously received warnings from the league for poor on-field behaviour.
Salisbury West submitted a list of 57 players to the league in August along with a dossier to address ongoing concerns.
But following the submission, the league was approached by a small number of players and their 2019 clubs, who said they were included in the list without their permission.
Further investigation revealed 37 of the 57 players listed had confirmed their intent to play for Salisbury West in 2020.
The remainder either denied committing to the club, did not reply to the league or said they were waiting to see who would be appointed coach.
Salisbury West president Matthew Bates said the club would meet on Monday night to discuss its future.
“It’s fairly tough to get a list of 55 players signed by the end of August, not many clubs could do that,” Bates said.
“A few of the players said they couldn’t commit until they knew who was coaching and what division we were in.
“The league said they had to go down as a no.
“We’re really disappointed.”
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In August, Bates said the ban had left the sporting club financially crippled, and regaining senior football was critical to its survival.
The club’s case for a return included introducing its own set of rules such as filming every game, security guards at matches and the president and vice president having authority over coaches to pull players from the field if they see fit.
patrick.keam@news.com.au