Nightcliff and St Mary’s football clubs penalised for breaching fly-in player rules in Division One in Round 14

The president of one of two NTFL clubs found to have breached the league’s fly-in rules said he was “disappointed” in its oversight as the identity of three other clubs can be revealed.

UPDATE, MONDAY: NIGHTCLIFF and St Mary’s football clubs have received suspended fines after being found to have breached NTFL rules in relation to fly-in players.

The breach took place in a Division 1 Round 14 match on January 15 in which both clubs played more than the allowed three fly-in players.

A fly-in player is a player who has not established permanent residence in the Territory before December 31 of the year the competition commences.

The breaches specifically relate to the non-compliant arrival dates of relocated players who were not allocated as fly-in players.

However, a league spokeswoman said a further three clubs – relating to Darwin Buffaloes and Palmerston’s Premier team and PINT’s Division 1 outfit – had been warned for making “minor clerical errors” in relation to fly-in players.

AFLNT community football manager Leigh Elder said the league was sympathetic to the clubs after a week of Covid restrictions and interruptions.

“In the first two weeks of the competition returning since the New Year, COVID-19 impacts have seen 18 games be forfeited within the senior competition,” Elder said.

Local business owner Adrian Moscheni at his Winnellie business, Straitline Blinds, which has been in business for three decades.

“In this instance the relocation dates were only a few days off, however the rules as they stand must be enforced by the competition.”

As a result of the breaches, the Division 1 Round 14 match has become a no result game which means neither team will receive premiership points, percentage, or player allocations from this match to calculate towards their finals qualifications.

The NTFL confirmed the Men’s Premier League competition had not been compromised.

The clubs, which face “significant penalties” if further breaches occur, received suspended fines due to the “challenging circumstances and their co-operation with the competition”, a league spokeswoman said.

“Three other NTFL clubs have recently received warnings regarding fly-in player administration,” she said.

“These incidents however did not jeopardise the integrity of the games or exceed the total round or yearly allocation of fly-in players.

“AFLNT agreed to not disclose specifics of the fines given to the clubs but are confident the suspended fines and lessons learned by the clubs will ensure no further breaches will occur in relation to fly-ins.”

St Mary’s FC president Adrian Moscheni said the Saints were “disappointed in ourselves that this issue has occurred again”.

“Particularly on the back of significant work put in the off season by our volunteer group to improve our club,” Moscheni said.

He said the current situation with Covid had added “significant pressures to all”, especially before Round 14 when Covid protocols relating to sporting clubs were made “last minute”.

It required players who had isolated for seven days could not play or train for an additional week.

“In saying that this is not an excuse for our mistake, we own it and have conducted a review of our processes to make immediate changes to ensure this does not happen again,” he said.

“We apologise to our sponsors, supporters and members for this error and hope that we can continue to build on the good work that our people have been doing at the club outside of this incident.

“We would like to thank our volunteer group for their continued efforts in driving us forward.”

Nightcliff FC president Graeme Shaw said the club was keen to “move on”.

“It is what it is, you can either dwell on it or move on and we’re going to move on,” Shaw said.

EARLIER: ST MARY’S are currently under investigation for what could be their second fly-in player breach in as many seasons.

An AFLNT spokeswoman confirmed they were aware of a potential law breach in Round 14.

“The NTFL is aware of potential club fly-in by-law breaches during Round 14,” the AFLNT spokeswoman said.

“After a week of Covid interruptions and restriction changes which distracted from the day-to-day operations of clubs, the NTFL is sympathetic to those involved.

“The league is currently investigating the matters and will outline findings in due course. AFLNT and the NTFL will not make further comment until this time.”

The club were previously found in breach of the player fly-in law in the 2020-21 season.

They were subsequently fined $10,000 in line with a NTFL by-law which states: “where a Men’s Premier League and/or Division 1 team breaches these Fly-In Player rules, that club will be a fined a sum of $10,000.”

That was the tip of the iceberg for the club at the time which was fined a further $1500 for previous rule violations, saw coach Anthony Vallejo suspended and was deducted four competition points at the start of the 2021-22 season.

St Mary’s were contacted for comment.