New Zealand Football have today confirmed that following an appeal to the NZF Disciplinary Committee, Auckland Football will be docked 9 points for fielding an ineligible player in three of their ISPS Handa Women’s Premiership games. 

New Zealand Football was initially made aware of an issue where an Auckland Football player was incorrectly registered as another player with the same name who previously played in the same regional league.

As New Zealand Football was notified of the matter outside the 48-hour time limit afforded to clubs to protest a result, New Zealand Football did not initially issue a retrospective punishment instead advising the player was ineligible to play in future fixtures. 

New Zealand Football’s decision not to issue a retrospective punishment was appealed by Capital Football, Central Football and Mainland Football on Tuesday 8 December, referring the matter to the NZF Disciplinary Committee who ruled in their favour citing that the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players is strict on matters of eligibility irrespective of any time limits set out in the competition regulations. Where matters of ineligibility are known, there is no discretion to the appropriate penalty under the NZF Disciplinary Code.

The Disciplinary Committee ruled that matches played by Auckland Football on 1 November 2020 v Central Football, 7 November 2020 v Canterbury United Pride and 15 November 2020 v Capital Football are forfeited by Auckland Football and the result will be recorded as a 3-0 win for the opposition. Records will now be updated to reflect the change in results. 

Article added: Friday 11 December 2020