By Tara Murray
Woodend-Hesket says it will review its game day procedures after being stripped of its Riddell District Football League round one win against Melton Centrals for having too many players on the field twice.
The league released a statement on Wednesday, saying that Centrals had now been declared the winner of the match.
The statement said that Melton Centrals called for a headcount in the third quarter and the Hawks were found to have too many players on the ground.
Under league by-laws the Hawks score for that quarter, 1.3 (9) was removed from the total.
Further correspondence and action was then taken under the same by-law where clubs or a person can request a post match review by the relevant controlling body of a team exceeding the permitted number of players on the playing surface where a request did not occur during the match.
Following this, the RDFNL has deemed that Woodend-Hesket played a minimum of five minutes 40 in the fourth quarter with too many players on the field and therefore determined that that Woodend-Hesket’s total points for the fourth quarter, 3.5 (23) also be removed from the match total.
“The RDFNL acknowledges that this was not a deliberate act by the WHFNC and want to point out that the Woodend-Hesket Football Netball Club are an excellent club which was highlighted by their back to back top three finishes in the RDFNL club of the year across the 2022 and 2023 seasons,” the statement said.
“Having said that, the integrity of the competitions cannot be brought into question and on this occasion there is a clear breach and a subsequent penalty whereby the final result of the match which was originally Woodend-Hesket 9.12 (66) defeated Melton Centrals 7.8 (50) is now Woodend-Hesket 5.4 (34) defeated by Melton Centrals 7.8 (50).”
In a statement from co-presidents Paul Podbury and James Chettle said the Hawks said they accept the decision handed down by the league.
“We recognise that errors were made on two occasions during the second half of the game,” they said. “While there was absolutely no intent to deceive or gain an unfair advantage, we accept full responsibility for the mistakes and understand that this is no excuse.
“As a club, we are committed to reviewing our gameday procedures immediately. We will also ensure that all coaches and relevant personnel are fully informed of the RDFNL by-laws to guarantee compliance moving forward.”
The statement said the club was disappointed for its players, volunteers and loyal supporters after having had such a strong performance in round one.
The Hawks have the weekend off and will play their round two clash on Good Friday against Kyneton.
