Uni Blues dispute points penalty, president explains scenario to club members

The Uni Blues are preparing to appeal the league’s hefty penalty as the club deems the rating of two new rival players to be within the rules of the previous VAFA board.

The University Blues have been shocked by the VAFA’s decision to penalise the club $22,000 and 20 premiership points for exceeding the player points limit.

On Friday morning, the club were notified of the decision after two separate independent hearings took place and concluded that the club was in breach of the 45-point limit.

The Uni Blues are now set to appeal the decision as the club say they were following the rules which were confirmed with the previous VAFA board in 2019.

According to the Blues, the club were told in 2019 that they were OK to have players from other clubs in the same competition come in and play under the same points rating.

Therefore when ex-Old Melburnian Jeremy Goddard and ex-Old Scotch footballer William Carrington joined the club this season, the club had kept them as four and three-point players respectively.

Although after a complaint was made by an unknown club, the league completed an audit after round nine to check whether all the Blues players were playing under the correct rating.

The VAFA, with almost a whole new board since 2019, advised the Blues that they had to add a point onto Goddard and Carrington as the league said the rule 6.1 did apply whereas the Blues thought otherwise from the previous board.

According to Blues president Tim Rourke, the club “were advised by VAFA management on numerous occasions in 2019 that Rule 6.1 was not being applied,” Rourke said in a letter to club members on Friday.

After the audit in round nine the VAFA directed the club to adjust the points for Carrington and Goddard going forward and in all previous matches in the season.

This then put the club over the limit in six of the club’s first seven games of the season when the club thought they were entering their player points right on budget.

This officially meant the club registered the points incorrectly for Carrington and Goddard and were over the 45-point budget on several occasions.

The club say it was the first time they knew that rule 6.1 was in play since being told otherwise by the VAFA in 2019. (For clarity it’s also the same rule as VAFA rule 50A)

This meant Goddard and Carrington had their points registered incorrectly in the first seven and six games they played respectively to round seven.

It totalled 13 incorrect rating registrations tallying up to $13,000 worth in fines for games where the club thought they were abiding within the 45-point budget.

In the meantime the club had to part ways with South Sudanese born footballer Mojwok Akoch as they didn’t have enough space in the points budget to have him in the seniors team.

A clearance was approved for Akoch to join the Hampden Football Netball League just before the clearance cut off date.

The club also said that if their whole under 19’s team was to be in the seniors team right now, they would be over the 45-point limit as too many players would be deemed three or four point players for various reasons, including coming from the country and attending another university other than Melbourne University.

The club is set to meet on Wednesday evening to officially work out the next steps it will take.

It is believed the club are hoping to resolve the matter without taking it to court.