Napier City Rovers are back from the dead in their Chatham Cup knockout soccer campaign after New Zealand Football upheld their appeal yesterday.
"Maybe there's a football god after all. They've thrown us another lifeline in New Zealand's most prestigious competition so we have to go out there now to make the most of it," a delighted Bluewater-sponsored Rovers coach Grant Hastings said last night after "text rumours" became a reality that Wairarapa United had indeed fielded an ineligible player, Brian Kaltack, in their 2-1 third-round victory in Napier a fortnight ago.
The Blues, who are the defending Central League winter champions, will now play Palmerston North Marist away this Saturday in a 2pm kick off, although the venue is yet to be confirmed on the NZ Football website.
However, it seems the boardroom battle isn't over just yet after Wairarapa coach Phil Keinzley last night told the Wairarapa Times Age they were checking out the appeal process.
"We're just going over their decision. It appears we have got seven days," Keinzley said, although the game is scheduled to kick off in five days.
"We have got a specialist sports solicitor. Yes [we are going to appeal].
"On the face of it, we believe we have got a good case," said the man who coached the green brigade to their maiden cup victory over the Rovers at Memorial Park in August 2011.
Hastings had had an inkling the Rovers would progress to the fourth round in the quest to lift the 90-year-old silverware after a phone conversation yesterday.
"The boy [Kaltack] was reclassified so he was back to being a guest player.
"If that's the case then they [Wairarapa] had one too many guest players so you could say it [the appeal ruling] was always coming back to Napier City Rovers," he said.
Teams can field a maximum of three guest players - generally defined as non-New Zealand citizens or residents who have not lived in New Zealand continuously for 12 months.
Wairarapa applied to have Vanuatu international Kaltack reclassified in time for the cup campaign and NZ Football, according to a statement last night, granted the request based on the evidence the club provided but it had since surfaced the defender was outside the country when the application was made.
He returned to New Zealand on June 14, two days before the ASB Chatham Cup match and two days after Wairarapa's submission to re-classify him.
Kaltak played for Solomon Warriors in the O-League in summer without proper registration, according to NZ Football, with Wairarapa failing to obtain an international transfer certificate for the teenager to play in Vanuatu, something that would have alerted New Zealand parties to his ineligibility to be reclassified as a guest player.
Keinzley's counter appeal will be considered under urgency.
NZ Football competitions manager Chris Kemp said it was another unfortunate reminder of the need for clubs to be vigilant when preparing evidence for transfers, player registration and players status changes.
"The onus is on clubs to be on top of things when doing their research and ensuring players meet the requirements of the competition in which they are playing," Kemp said.
The Rovers had a bye in Central League this weekend as their opposition, Lower Hutt City, sitting last on the winter league ladder, are playing Wellington Olympic in a Cup match at 5.45pm on Saturday.
Palmy Marist coach Simon Lees said they were not "overly surprised" with the verdict.
"We saw it in your paper's website and were aware of the appeal, so thanks for that," Lees said, preferring Rovers because several Wairarapa players - captain Adam Cowan, goalkeeper Matt Borren, Nathan Cooksley and Josh Margetts - are from Palmy and are familiar with Marist's constitution.
"It was a bit of a shock but that's Wairarapa for you."
However, Lees would have loved to have visited Park Island to watch the Rovers play Olympic on Sunday. Marist are Federation League leaders and have only lost one game from 10 this winter, to Cape Physio Taradale.