Within The Rules, But What About The Spirit of The Competition?

We all know that in sport sometimes you have to push the boundaries to see how far you can go.

While often this is a good thing as you see teams or individuals achieve beyond what many believed was their capability; but sometimes it can be detrimental.

State League Division One side Mandurah City opted to bring in former Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths to boost their home gate, raise the profile of the club and ultimately make some money by having a player who still has a great deal to offer at a level higher than this, play for them. The word was that the player was receiving a five figure sum per game, to play two home games for the club.

Many believe that Mandurah should be applauded for making such a move as it generated more publicity than any other game all season, and for all the right reasons.

As mentioned the club needed to make sure that they recouped the money that they had promised their star player, and as a result lifted ticket prices for the game against the Western Knights from $6 entry fee to $20. These tickets had to be purchased on line.

This understandably upset some people. Football West is then said to have told the club that unless they reduced prices to the usual levels, they would be faced with a points deduction and a big fine. Mandurah City performed a quick u-turn and refunded supporters who had bought tickets at the increased price to see the former Celtic star.

The story made the news back in Scotland and the club’s president Nigel Mann explained to the Daily Record “It was never our club’s intention to cause any distress or to price supporters out of attending the game. Like all clubs, we operate on small budgets and had hoped to raise much-needed funds to help support our junior and senior teams moving into the future. Leigh playing for us is not only an exciting opportunity for this football club and for West Australian grassroots football, but it also highlights what we can achieve together as a football community.”

In terms of raising the club’s profile outside of Western Australia the venture has been a huge success. In terms of recording a victory and Griffiths scoring, the home fans went home happy. You would have to say that it was a wholehearted success. It appears that it was a worthwhile venture, although with the reduced ticket prices one wonders if the club may end up being out of pocket after the two games.

Looking at the Football West Competition Rules for the State League, one wonders on what grounds Mandurah City could be threatened with a points deduction or a fine for increasing the admission fee.

Article 18 point 4 of the rules states:

“The following general entry admission fees may be charged:
a) Division 1 – $6.
b) Division 2 – $5.
c) Students, Pensioners or concession holders with evidence of status – $4.
d) People under the age of 15 – Free entry.”

The use of the word “may” is a strange choice. How is this word to be interpreted? For “may” can be used in an auxiliary function expressing purpose or expectation; which may well be what was intended by Football West. It can also mean to have permission to, which again could be the interpretation that was expected. However ‘may’ can also be used to indicate possibility or probability. So with the opportunity to interpret a meaning were Mandurah City within their rights to charge more than what they could ‘possibly’ charge?

Certainly if clubs charged less than $6 it was fine. The admission fees are clearly not set in stone.

A better word moving forward may be to replace ‘may’ with ‘must.’ The following maximum entry admission fees must be charged, could be a good wording change moving forward.

There were many who although complimentary of Mandurah City’s bold move questioned how the game’s governing body could allow a club to bring in a new player with just two rounds to play in the season. Once again the rules are ambiguous if taken at face value.

Article 14 on Player Rosters – personally hate that term, in football they are squads – section 4 states:

“A Player must be registered on PlayFootball in accordance with the National Registration Status and Transfer Regulations before they can be named on a Player Roster unless an exemption is given by Football West. For clarity, a Player must be registered before they can play.”

One assumes that Leigh Griffiths met that criteria and was registered to play.

However section 6 states the following:

“Once submitted and approved by Football West, no Players may be added to a Club’s Player Roster except:
a) before 10:00am WST Thursday 10 February 2022;
b) between 9:00am WST Wednesday 21 June 2022 and 5:00pm WST Thursday 30 June 2022;
c) in the case of a Player under the age of 23;
d) in accordance with the Long-Term Injury Policy; or
e) in the case a Player originally listed on the Player Roster is removed in accordance with Paragraph 7 the Club may replace the Player with another Player registered for the Club’s Reserves or Under 18’s as long as the replacement Player is already registered with the same Club and was born in 2002 or later.”

So reading that regulation one can understand why some were questioning how Mandurah were able to add to their roster outside of the transfer windows. In addition the regulations state that a Player Roster must comprise at least 16 Players and no more than 23 Players. How many players Mandurah had listed on their roster is something only they and Football West would know.

The crucial issue for those who feel the signing was wrong is if you read on within the same section on player rosters section 9 states:

“No Player may be added to a Club’s Player Roster outside of the transfer windows if their previous registration is with another State League WA or NPLWA Club, regardless of any exceptions.”

Which would imply that because Griffiths came from outside the Western Australian competition the club was within their rights to sign him outside of the transfer window, as long as their player roster had a place spare.

That being the case surely Football West and Mandurah City would have been wise to have sat down and had a discussion as to what was and wasn’t allowed prior to tickets going on sale? There was a great opportunity for Football West to ride on the back of the club’s initiative, but one feels that has now been missed.

One reason why this may not have happened is because everything, such as the registration of the player is done electronically. That lack of human interaction may well be one of the reasons why the opportunity was missed, and there was a misunderstanding of the rule in relation to admission fees.

For those who feel that Mandurah City has done something wrong, by tempting the 32 year old to come and play for them, in terms of the regulations they haven’t. However whether their actions are within the spirit of the competition, that is a completely seperate issue.

The signing of a top-drawer player for two games may well have opened a Pandora’s box moving forward unless the regulations are re-visited and rewritten so that there can be no ambiguity.

Is it in the spirit of the competition to bring a player in for the last two games of the season? If you are unable to gain promotion as is the case with Mandurah City it is easy to say that there is nothing wrong with such a move. However, now that one club has done it, what is to stop another who is vying for promotion, or even looking to avoid relegation doing the same in future seasons? Would that be in the spirit of the competition?

Certainly Mandurah City’s bold move has given many much to ponder about, but it appears that they have done nothing wrong. Such vision should be applauded.