LEETON United’s women’s side was dealt a devastating blow late last week which means they will no longer qualify to play finals.
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On June 2 in round eight of the women’s competition, Leeton United took on Wagga United.
This match was won by Leeton 4-3 after they scored a goal in the dying minutes of the game to secure the victory.
During the game, Leeton United was several players short, leaving the team with only a single substitute player.
Women’s coach Mark Powter said the club spoke with ground officials on the day, as well as the coach of Wagga United to request two of Leeton United’s junior players be able to fill the spots.
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“The Football Wagga referees explained to us that as the junior players were registered with the club, they would be able to play,” Powter said.
“The Wagga United coach agreed and so the decision was made to play the girls in the team for the game.”
However, a few weeks ago, Leeton United was contacted by Football Wagga to explain why “unregistered” players were used in the round eight match.
“Leeton explained the situation – emphasising the two girls were in fact registered – at a meeting in Wagga and the matter was left alone,” he said.
“However, we recently received contact to tell us that competition points would now be stripped after a review of the incident.
“The loss of three competition points is a massive penalty against a club.
“In fact, the penalty was larger for playing these two girls as they are registered with a different association than if they were completely unregistered.
“Under Football Federation NSW rules, clubs must play in the competition hosted by their closest association.
“For our juniors this is in Griffith and for our seniors it is Wagga.
“However, the juniors do not play their games in Griffith at all.
“In fact, their games are played in Leeton and are entirely organised by the club.
“They are simply registered for insurance purposes.”
However, Fooball Wagga deemed despite having the girls as registered Football Federation NSW players, they were not registered in the Wagga competition and, as such, were classified as unregistered players.
The loss of the competition points meant Leeton United will not take part in the finals of the women’s division, despite also recording a 3-1 win over Lake Albert on Sunday.
Had the points not be stripped, this win would would have seen them playing in the finals.
“The women's team has performed incredibly well this year and should be incredibly proud of their achievements,” Powter said.
“From having only eight registered girls at the start of the season to over 20 players now is amazing.
“We are already looking at our local juniors to see who is ready to join the team next year … and we will make the finals.”
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