East Malvern and St Kilda City lose match points over breaches of player-points cap

TWO Southern league football clubs lost match points and copped fines for exceeding the player points cap.

TWO Southern Football Netball League clubs have lost match points and copped fines for exceeding the player-points cap.

One of the SFNL clubs, East Malvern, has vowed to appeal the decision, while St Kilda City is weighing up its options.

In a statement the SFNL confirmed both clubs had been penalised for exceeding the points cap, which is set at 47 for Division 1 clubs.

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It said the Round 4 match scores of both teams would be annulled and altered to show that Cheltenham defeated East Malvern 44-0 and Bentleigh defeated St Kilda City 55-0.

“The league ladder will be altered to reflect these changes,’’ the statement said.

The clubs were fined $2000, with $1000 suspended “based on no further breaches in 2018.”

East Malvern president Craig Roylance said his club would fight the decision.

“We will absolutely appeal,” he told Leader.

“We will be commencing the process of appeal first thing Monday.

“The player in question is not a four-pointer, and we believe we can demonstrate our case.”

St Kilda City coach Richard Houston said that while the club was still weighing up its options, it would seek a clarification of the guidelines.

“I believe the problem is with AFL Victoria and we’re not sure that the SFNL has properly interpreted what is a confusing and ambiguous set of rules,’’ he said.

St Kilda City coach Richard Houston.

“We are not happy with the process at all and are prepared to take it to an independent referee,” he said, referring to the fact that AFL Victoria itself will hear any appeal.

“It’s a shame it has got to this point where clubs lose match points for breaching rules that haven’t been properly clarified.”

St Kilda City president Rod Gamlin described the loss of points as a “massive penalty”.

“We’re really disappointed,” he said.

SFNL chief executive Mike Palmer said the league would encourage the clubs to appeal if they thought they had been unfairly treated.

“We firmly believe in the clubs’ right to appeal and they would have our support to do so,” he said.

“We are of the view that there are some contradictory clauses within the rules that need clarification depending on the circumstances.

“And while we have a fair bit of sympathy for the situation, we obviously can’t directly support an appeal against our own decision, which was based on our interpretation of the rules.”

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