A $10,000 fine, a deduction of eight championship points for its Men’s State League 1 South East team and virtually no freedom on what the club does without approval first is what Southern Stars SC will have to deal with in the wake of its match fixing association.

The FFV decided to hand down the sanctions to the Southern Stars this week after its investigation uncovered the club’s connection with match fixing by some of its international players and senior coach in the 2013 season.

As a result of that investigation the club was charged with misconduct by materially injuring the reputation and goodwill of football.

The punishment will see the club enter into mandatory club management/governance courses for all its current committee members (and any new members in 2014) and will have to report to the FFV monthly for the Federation to approve all current and any proposed committee members in 2014. The club must also adopt a more robust internal procedures in relation to the selection of its coach and potential international players.
FFV’s Chief Executive Officer, Mitchell Murphy, said that the sanctions imposed against the club by FFV are very substantial for Southern Stars which is now, in effect, a community club.

The FFV consulted the FFA and reviewed its processes around player and coach registrations in the wake of the investigation.

“The investigation identified a serious lack of governance and failure to conduct due diligence by the committee at Southern Stars.

“Although no criminal charges have been laid against any of the committee members at Southern Stars, its poor administration provided an environment and the opportunity for the match fixing to take place.

“Southern Stars has suffered a high price in terms of reputational loss given the serious failures of governance that led to Australia’s first football match fixing charges, however, it was vital that FFV do more than simply punish the club.

“That is why we will arm the club with the appropriate tools and resources to establish best practice at the core, that is, at club management level so that we can reduce the risk of it ever happening again,” Mr Murphy said.

Last year FIFA imposed global sanctions on four players and a coach from the Southern Stars amid a criminal investigation into match-fixing.
Southern Stars players Reiss Noel, Joe Woolley, David Obaze and Nicholas McKoy, as well as coach Zia Younan, were arrested by Victorian Police for alleged match-fixing on five Southern Stars matches.