KEY POINTS:
Waitakere United have finally been confirmed as New Zealand Football Championship winners for the sometimes stormy 2006-07 season.
Weeks of off-field haggling have ended now that Auckland City have withdrawn their appeal in the player-eligibility row.
City were stripped of three vital points for playing an ineligible player
in their 1-0 away win over Waitakere in October, and the points were awarded to United.
That decision leaves Waitakere two points clear of YoungHeart Manawatu, with City a further three points back in third - 11 points clear of fourth-placed Canterbury.
In having their first NZFC triumph confirmed, Waitakere have also claimed one of two spots for New Zealand teams in the 2007-08 Oceania Champions League.
They will be joined in those O-League play-offs, which should again offer the chance to play in the Fifa Club World Cup (in 2008), by either Manawatu or City who are expected to meet in the NZFC preliminary final in Palmerston North on Sunday. Kickoff is at 3pm.
The winner of that game will then play Waitakere in the NZFC grand final.
Should Waitakere win that yet-to-be-scheduled clash, Manawatu, as runners-up in the round-robin, would claim the second O-League spot. But if City win on Sunday and then win the final, they would claim another shot at the big time.
While Sunday's preliminary final is set to be confirmed today, scheduling the final poses more problems.
With Waitakere and Auckland City involved in O-League matches on March 31 and April 4, it is unlikely the NZFC finale will be played before April 11 as many players are unavailable over Easter.
Waitakere's regular home ground at Trusts Stadium is unavailable and the club are looking to play at North Harbour Stadium.
April 15 had been suggested as a likely date, but with the Blues to play a Super 14 rugby match against the Sharks at North Harbour Stadium on April 14, that has been ruled out.
Suggestions that player power led to City's decision to call off their appeal were yesterday rejected by Auckland City chairman Ivan Vuksich.
"I don't know where that came from. The players have been fully supportive in what we were doing," said Vuksich. "But with New Zealand Soccer deciding we could not present any new evidence, we decided not to continue."
Vuksich was adamant that the problem remained with New Zealand Soccer and its failure to have its rules, under which the original appeal was heard, ratified.
NZS rejects that and remains confident the decision of its appeal committee would have been reconfirmed.
Waitakere chairman Rex Dawkins welcomed the news that the matter had finally been laid to rest.
"Thank goodness common sense prevailed. The game is about players and it is unfortunate it became political," he said.