Steven Holloway: NZ Football's month goes from bad to worse

Andy Martin and Deklan Wynne. Photo / File.

When it rains at New Zealand Football, it really does pour.

In the space of 17 days the national body had their Olympic dream crushed, found out they will have to beat one of South America's best to reach the next World Cup and are now facing fresh allegations that they used multiple ineligible players to qualify for the under 17 World Cup.

Talk about a month from hell.

The Herald today revealed that Oceania Football Confederation are investigating a complaint that New Zealand used ineligible players to win the under-17 World Cup qualifying tournament in American Samoa this year. The consequences could be severe.

So how could so many players slip through the eligibility cracks?

It was revealed on 3news this week that in 2011 New Zealand Football wrote to Fifa and enquired whether Ryan DeVries, who was born in South Africa and has no ancestral links to New Zealand, was eligible to play for New Zealand. Fifa replied that he wasn't eligible, so New Zealand didn't play him.

But somewhere in the last four years, it seems NZF threw their Fifa Statutes and eligibility processes guidelines out the window.

Since 2011, the New Zealand Football staff has nearly had a total turnover. In came a new CEO, president, high performance manager, international teams manager and operations manager and out went the existing eligibility knowledge.

It's almost ironic that NZF's appeal hinges on the breakdown in OFC's 'process' in Papua New Guinea. If the processes at North Harbour Stadium were correct we likely wouldn't be here in the first place.

Wynne could just be the tip of the ice-burg. If New Zealand Football lose their appeal, the floodgates could open. If it's proven that New Zealand fielded ineligible players across all levels due to ignorance or ineptitude, the sanctions could be heavy.

New Zealand's saving grace may be the statute of limitations. Is it possible to retrospectively punish New Zealand Football so long after the tournaments or games? Will OFC or Fifa have jurisdiction to make the decision? And if guilty, what is a suitable punishment?

It seems every day the list of questions grows.