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Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Football: Clubs backing AFC Fury - Cook

By Ben Guild
Bay of Plenty Times·
31 Dec, 2013 06:47 PM3 mins to read

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NOT FINISHED: AFC Fury founder David Cook hopes the club's protest will help to change regulations around foreign players.PHOTO/FILE

NOT FINISHED: AFC Fury founder David Cook hopes the club's protest will help to change regulations around foreign players.PHOTO/FILE

Chairman claims support from other teams in row over foreign player rules

Could it be that the sound and the fury signifies something?

AFC Fury founder and chairman David Cook is not taking Auckland Football's decision to strip the club of its promotion playoff series win against Papakura City FC lying down, and has enlisted the help of other clubs in a bid to effectively rewrite the regulations governing foreign players.

In a strongly worded release, Cook claimed to have the support of a number of groups in the wider football fraternity.

"Northern region football clubs are rallying around embattled AFC Fury which was recently robbed of a hard fought promotion to the Northern League due to a claim it fielded two ineligible players in the play-off games versus Papakura City nearly three months ago," the release reads.

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"Melville United, Forest Hill Milford and Hamilton Wanderers are just three of several northern region clubs so far rallying to Fury's cry of injustice meted out to the Te Puna based side."

Cook went on to repeat his assertion that the rules are outdated, unenforceable and stacked against the clubs which don't have the means to check the eligibility of players.

"The issue around players from overseas is two-fold," said Cook.

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"Firstly, clubs have only ever been able to ask the player his football background to determine whether an International Clearance Certificate (ITC) was required.

"Tauranga City United have long had a policy of not seeking ITCs for players from South America according to one former coach of theirs who said they had found it just too difficult."

Two South American players signed by the Fury from Tauranga City United had not yet sought a clearance, Cook said.

Cook said New Zealand Football (NZF) recently recognised the flaw in the system whereupon clubs could only determine whether an ITC was required by simply asking the player. They have introduced a system for clubs to put forward details of foreign players to be checked at the time of signing them on.

Cook believes this new measure serves to support the appeal Fury has launched against its disqualification as it recognises the problem that existed previously.

"There are at least two prominent Northern Regional Premier Football League clubs which would be relegated, and three Northern Region Second Division clubs relegated or penalised, if authorities take the same path as they have with Fury, which believed it was the original club's responsibility to obtain ITCs and many more clubs could be penalised to a lesser degree."

Fury now await the outcome of its appeal. Cook is framing the argument around natural justice - the idea that both parties in a dispute should have equal access to all the relevant information and processes.

He believes Papakura's protest was non-specific and enjoyed the resources of both the Auckland and New Zealand federations when it was incumbent upon them to gather information themselves.

"From a judicial perspective it is a concern that the adjudicating authority and its parent organisation have used their own considerable resources to gather the evidence used in the prosecution of the Papakura protest, rather than having it presented to them.

"It should be incumbent on any club lodging a protest to independently gather and present their evidence at the time of lodgment."

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Cook believes the issue should be handed back to the federations to remedy with one option being to play a 13-team division for one season including Fury and Papakura.

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