Kyneton FNC and Koondrook Barham FNC penalised after salary cap breaches

A central Victorian footy club who exceeded their salary cap during the 2021 season have explained what happened.

The Kyneton Football Netball Club and the Koondrook Barham Football Netball Club have been penalised after a player payment disciplinary committee found them guilty of breaching their salary caps during the 2021 season.

Charges were laid against the two clubs under section 9(a) of the player payment rule after AFL Central Victoria initiated audits by an AFL Victoria integrity officer.

Both clubs were found guilty of administration breaches after exceeding the maximum player payments allowed for that season.

Koondrook Barham football club have cited communication issues as the main reason for their salary cap breaches.

Both clubs received fines and investigation reviews will be conducted on their player payments for seasons 2022 and 2023, an AFL Central Victoria statement said.

It is understood the Kyneton Football Netball Club, which competes in the Bendigo Football Netball League, received a small suspended fine for its breaches and will have player payments audited at the end of 2023.

Koondrook Barham Football Netball Club, which plays in the Central Murray Football Netball League, received different penalties to the Kyneton Football Netball Club as it was found to have committed different breaches to the player payments during the 2021 season.

Koondrook Barham said the breached occurred due to miscommunication.

“KBFNC did not act with poor integrity, the breach of the salary cap occurred through a lack of communication between the club and our governing bodies, primarily AFL Central Vic,” the club said in a statement.

“We have accepted the fine.

“We went through an extensive review and it was through that review we discovered we had breached the 2021 salary cap. At no stage did the executive committee intentionally over spend.”

The integrity officer’s reports stated that both clubs and their officials were co-operative, transparent and open during the reviews.

It was also noted that in both cases these were honest mistakes.

Kyneton FNC president Hayden Evans said changes caused by the Covid-affected 2021 season led to the discrepancies.

AFL Central Victoria region manager Craig Armstead said in 2021 each club’s salary cap was applied at a pro rata rate as each league’s season was cut short due to Covid-19.

In 2021 the BFNL played 11 games with Kyneton finishing seventh on the ladder with three wins and eight losses.

In 2022 it just missed on the BFNL finals series, finished sixth, 15 per cent behind Sandhurst.

In the Central Murray league in 2021 Koondrook Barham finished ninth with two wins and eight losses.

The 2022 season was no better for Koondrook Barham, finishing tenth with two wins, 13 losses and a draw.