In the interest of transparency, The Board of Football Victoria provide the following information regarding the recent matter involving Chisholm United FC (CUFC).
A FV Competitions investigation determined CUFC fielded a player who had two (2) active registrations across nine (9) fixtures. CUFC was subsequently deducted six (6) competition points.
Following this outcome, CUFC provided evidence of a request for de-registration which would have ruled the player eligible for eight (8) of the nine (9) fixtures – therefore seeking a re-evaluation.
The Board of Football Victoria’s decision to refer to investigate the matter occurred after appropriate governance, conflict declarations and exclusion checks were adhered to.
The Board of Football Victoria cannot and would not overturn a decision made by FV Competitions, however, as the Rules of Competition do not currently enable an appeal process, The Board of Football Victoria referred the matter to an Independent Tribunal (following legal advice).
The Independent Tribunal dismissed the case and the decision to deduct six (6) points from CUFC was upheld.
CUFC then appealed to the Appeals Board (independent) in accordance with the GDT. The Appeals Board deemed that as the de-registration request was applicable for eight (8) of the nine (9) matches, a fair outcome was for CUFC to be penalised for one (1) match in which the ineligible player appeared.
The result of that match was therefore changed to a CUFC forfeit (3-0 loss). This penalty replaced the original six (6) point deduction, as the player was proven to be eligible for the other matches in which the club was penalised for.
Football Victoria acknowledges that to streamline similar matters in the future, the Rules of Competition may benefit from a mechanism whereby a decision can be referred directly to an Independent Tribunal.
This will be explored in The Board of Football Victoria’s annual review of the Rules of Competition.