Heidelberg United will be relieved if it starts the 2016 NPL season just three premiership points in arrears of the rest of the competition.
It could have been much worse following an initial FFV tribunal ruling last month (16/09/15) which penalised the club nine points and a $4,000 fine for misconduct arising from its NPL elimination final loss to Pascoe Vale on 30/08/15.
At the initial ruling, the tribunal found the club guilty of the charge of a club associate committing a serious offence against a match official involving “violent, repeated and/or excessive conduct”.
However, at a subsequent appeal hearing last week, the charge was successfully downgraded to a non-violent offence against a match official. As a result, the nine-point deduction was reduced to just three points, although the tribunal increased Heidelberg’s fine from $4,000 to $15,000. The club is also required to write a letter of apology to the referee who was the victim of the offensive/abusive language. The letter is to be sent to the FFV.
Heidelberg United’s elimination from the 2015 NPL finals may have been a hard pill to swallow coming so quickly on the heels of a euphoric FFA cup triumph over Sydney United. But it’s also threatened to leave a bitter aftertaste long after the 2015 NPL season has been put to bed.
The last time a premier league club was penalised premiership points for the following season was when Dandenong Thunder won the 2012 grand final but picked up a three point deduction for the following season. However in Thunder’s case, the point deduction paled into insignificance compared with the additional $40,000 fine and order to play its first ten home matches behind closed doors following a rocket flare being launched during the final.
It signalled the start of a slow decline for Thunder, ending in relegation at the end of 2015.
Heidelberg hopes that will be the end of the matter, however it will have to endure an anxious wait for an adjourned hearing to hear possible further charges arising from the game.
Coach Katsakis told Neos Kosmos: “I can’t say anything because we’re looking at it possibly going a little bit further, so I’d rather say nothing at the moment.
“It’s certainly a relief (to have the nine-point penalty reduced) but I can’t understand penalising the playing group for something where potentially we don’t know whose supporters they were who were making the comments or remarks.”