Archived News from January 2009
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YOU DON`T KNOW WHAT YOU`RE DOING,SAY SUPP`S TRUSTS
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19Jan2009
Martin Shaw, of StagsFans United (and on behalf of the Oxford and Crawley Supporters Trusts), on the BBC Non-League Show, 19Jan2009. Listen to the clip here or the whole show here (follow link to BBC Non-League Show) Coverage of the statement on BBC Radio Oxford, here (edited by Martin Shaw from BBC iPlayer) ------------ FULL STATEMENT BELOW. 18 January 2009 Three supporters' trusts representing clubs for the Blue Square Premier league join forces today to question the administrative procedures of Football Conference authorities. Fans of Crawley Town, Mansfield Town and Oxford United, as well as those of Blue Square South side Bognor Regis Town, have each see their team's chances of success this season reduced by points deductions for fielding ineligible players. In a move initiated by OxVox (Oxford United's trust), The Devils Trust (Crawley Town), and StagsFansUnited (Mansfield Town), supporters are calling on the senior administrators of English non-league football to raise their level of professionalism and to streamline and modernise procedures. In making this call, trusts are in line with the comments on the BBC Radio Non-League show on 12 January of John Moules, former head of the Conference and now Chairman of Ebbsfleet United. John Moules confirmed that, in his time in charge, team sheets were cross checked for non-registered players within days of matches being played. He said he was 'aghast' that non-registration could now fail to be spotted for periods of weeks or months. OxVox Trust chair Trevor Lambert says "It cannot be an accident that four clubs have fallen foul of these procedures within a short space of time this season. A system dependent on pieces of paper, fax machines and the post is not fit for purpose in 2009. A well designed online system for player registration should be used, enabling clubs to instantly notify the authorities of player registration requests and to receive speedy confirmation." StagsFansUnited's Martin Shaw comments: "It is farcical that three clubs in the BSP have suffered points deductions so far this season, in large part down to the inadequacy of the conference's archaic systems. In all cases, it is quite clear that there was no intent to gain an unfair advantage, nor could it be argued that any advantage was gained, as the issues were purely a technicality. Hence the deduction of points is absurdly out of proportion to the severity of the issue in each case, and we would urge the conference to accept their procedures were fundamentally flawed and to re-instate the points for the 3 clubs." The Devils Trust is chaired by Mark Ogbourne who adds: "Any process wherein one party faces punitive action, even if they have successfully completed their responsibilities, with the other party not held accountable, even if possibly they fail to complete their part of the process, must be considered an unfair practice. Any anomalies must be identified straight away as retrospective penalties are counter to the spirit of competitive sport, it invalidates the matchday experience. The Conference needs to review how well it is serving its members. They must revise the process to enable transparency and accountability for all parties at source. This is quite clearly a failure of process, no-one is arguing that any club has attempted to deceive or gain an advantage through playing an unregistered footballer. In this context the Conference should consider their role in asking clubs to sign up to a flawed - heads we win, tails you lose - process and consequently review whether the points deductions are appropriate". ---------- Fans groups unite to tell Conference: 'You don't know what you're doing' CHAD.co.uk, 18 January 2009, By Tim Morriss MANSFIELD Town group Stags Fans United (SFU) has joined with two other supporters trusts to tell Football Conference administrators: "You don't know what you're doing!" The SFU and trusts from Oxford United and Crawley Town have hit out and questioned the administrative procedures of the competition after all three clubs were docked points this season for fielding ineligible players. And the OxVox, the Devils Trust and the SFU are calling on the senior administrators of English non-league football to raise their level of professionalism and to streamline and modernise procedures. Already it is believed that the Conference has changed its procedures with regard to cross-checking the fielding of registered players, in light of the four known clubs to be punished over player registrations. The SFU's Martin Shaw said: "It is farcical that three clubs in the BSP have suffered points deductions so far this season, in large part down to the inadequacy of the conference's archaic systems. "In all cases, it is quite clear that there was no intent to gain an unfair advantage, nor could it be argued that any advantage was gained, as the issues were purely a technicality. "Hence the deduction of points is absurdly out of proportion to the severity of the issue in each case, and we would urge the conference to accept their procedures were fundamentally flawed and to re-instate the points for the three clubs." The Stags were deducted four points in October - sparking a slide from top of the table to the relegation zone - after it emerged that several players were not properly registered for the first two matches of the season, when they gained four points. Blue Square South side Bognor Regis Town have also been hit by the growing farce with a seven point loss and then this week both Oxford United and Crawley lost points - though Oxford had been expecting to lose 11 rather than the eventual five lost, a fact which has left Mansfield Town FC closely monitoring the situation. An administrative error meant that Oxford failed to register Eddie Hutchinson - and the problem was not spotted by the Conference until the beginning of November. Crawley lost four pints over the registration of Isaiah Rankin. It seems that the Conference had not been fully cross-checking player registrations against match team sheets, but merely picking out a few names to check. Now it is thought that the competition has changed its procedures and checks every name on the team sheets of every match to avoid any future problems - a fact alluded to by Crawley chairman Vic Marley when he said on Monday: "This decision is extremely hard to take given the flawed registration procedures that the Football Conference Premier had in place in the early part of the season." Earlier this week respected former head of the Conference John Moules said he was 'aghast' that non-registration could fail to be spotted for weeks or months - and said that in his time in charge any irregularities would have been highlighted within a few days. There is a growing feeling among the Conference clubs that the three known cases could just be the tip of iceberg from the early part of the season - and there has been a call for an audit of all players and all BSP clubs. However, some fans fear that this would reveal even more clubs to be in breach of Conference regulations and throw the BSP season into farce. Supporters have also been questioning the role of Conference general manager Dennis Strudwick in this escalating problem - and pointed out that the harsh punishment does not fit the crimes as the clubs have not sought to gain any unfair advantage. This week Strudwick told Chad, immediately after the ruling against Oxford and Crawley: "I can't comment at the moment as this is subject to appeal and clubs have 14 days to decide." OxVox Trust (Oxford) chairman Trevor Lambert said: "It cannot be an accident that four clubs have fallen foul of these procedures within a short space of time this season. "A system dependent on pieces of paper, fax machines and the post is not fit for purpose in 2009. A well designed online system for player registration should be used, enabling clubs to instantly notify the authorities of player registration requests and to receive speedy confirmation." The Devils Trust (Crawley) is chaired by Mark Ogbourne, who added: "Any process wherein one party faces punitive action, even if they have successfully completed their responsibilities, with the other party not held accountable, even if possibly they fail to complete their part of the process, must be considered an unfair practice. "Any anomalies must be identified straight away as retrospective penalties are counter to the spirit of competitive sport, it invalidates the matchday experience. "The Conference needs to review how well it is serving its members. They must revise the process to enable transparency and accountability for all parties at source. "This is quite clearly a failure of process, no-one is arguing that any club has attempted to deceive or gain an advantage through playing an unregistered footballer. "In this context the Conference should consider their role in asking clubs to sign up to a flawed - heads we win, tails you lose - process and consequently review whether the points deductions are appropriate". The Stags are still waiting to hear from the Football Association over a separate investigation into an alleged irregularity over O'Connor, who it is believed was registered with the FA with two clubs (Grays and the Stags) - a probe which started back in September. -------------- UPDATE FOOTBALL CONFERENCE AGREES INTERNAL REVIEW BBC: 'With so many clubs in trouble, some supporters have questioned the way the Conference is being run' 22 January 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/7845421.stm The Football Conference is to hold an internal review into its administrative procedures in the wake of the points deduction given to four clubs. The sub-committee will report back with its findings to the Conference's board at the end of February. Oxford have yet to announce whether they will appeal against five points being docked for midfielder Eddie Hutchinson not being registered. Crawley, Bognor and Mansfield were also recently punished for similar offences. Crawley were deducted four points over the registration of Isaiah Rankin, while fellow Blue Square Premier side Mansfield were hit with a four-point deduction earlier this season. With so many clubs in trouble, some supporters have questioned the way the Conference is being run. A Conference statement read: "The board of the Football Conference deplores the recent spate of ill-informed publicity arising from the disciplinary hearings held in Birmingham last week. "However, the board has received some genuine enquiries concerning the administration of the competition and in the interest of transparency, has decided to form an administrative review sub-committee to report back to the board on 23 February 2009, and ultimately the member clubs, on its findings." As the punishments handed down to Oxford, Crawley and Bognor are still subject to appeal, the Conference has declined to comment further. -------------- CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT THE FOOTBALL CONFERENCE EGM - PIRELLI STADIUM, BURTON - THURSDAY, 22 JANUARY 2009 http://www.footballconference.co.uk/news/news_article.asp?id=1032 The Board of the Football Conference deplores the recent spate of ill-informed publicity arising from the disciplinary hearings held in Birmingham last week. However, the Board has received some genuine enquiries concerning the administration of the competition and in the interest of transparency, has decided to form an Administrative Review Sub-Committee to report back to the Board on 23rd February 2009, and ultimately the member Clubs, on its findings. In view of the fact that the time limit for the disciplined clubs to appeal has not yet expired, it is not appropriate to say anything more today. ---------------- Non-League Paper, 18 Jan 2008 
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