AFC Wimbledon - ePetition to the Sports Minister

[upferretmadferret]

ePetition link: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/wimbledon/

 

Dear Friends,

 

"    The FA has recently imposed extraordinarily harsh penalties (£12,000 fine, expulsion from the FA Trophy and an 18 point deduction) on our club for an innocuous administrative oversight.  No unfair advantage was either sought or gained when we failed to realise that an International Clearance Certificate (ICC) was needed when we recently signed an English player from a club playing in the English League and participating in the English FA Cup.  The FA considered that the lack of an ICC meant the player was ‘ineligible’

 

However, given these facts, you may yourself be wondering why an ICC was required at all.  The club in question was Cardiff City and, despite their full participation in English football, their players are registered with the Welsh FA.  When a player moves from the jurisdiction of one country’s FA to another, an ICC is needed to confirm that he has no outstanding bookings or suspension.

 

      The player concerned is a very clean footballer so not only did he have no outstanding bookings or suspension but the lack of the required ICC only came to light when he received his first booking for us, by which time he had already played in 3 cup games and 11 league games.  Frustratingly, when we were made aware of the need to get an ICC, this took a total of one hour and 3 e-mails.

 

      I hope that you too recognise the enormity of the injustice and the complete lack of any proportionality between ‘crime’ and punishment and feel able to support us in this matter. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/wimbledon/

 

[Tom]

Ha. Epetitions do nothing.

[Roger Rebel]

I'm sorry, but is there another petition i can sign to make sure you do lose the points. You are arrogant b******s who think you are above the law.

[mal316]

Have to agree with Roger on this one.

 

Your club knew the rules, your club broke the rules so deal with it!

[HorshamRebel]

Yep, clean footballer or not, he should NOT have been playing for the club.

 

Every club has to abide by the rules. Caveat Emptor, even for a football club signing new players.

[GarySTFC]

Agree with the above, only if the law is applied consistently throughout all leagues. Let's see what happens to West Ham....

[Martin]

Agree with everyone else - tough luck - just because you are AFC the "fans club" it does not mean you are exempt. Particularly agree with Gary, I'm still bitter that Spurs weaseled their way out of demotion while poor old Swindon didn't in the 90s.

 

The only thing with the West Ham situation is that it will make bugger all difference becasuse they only won 5 points with the ineligible player(s) and will be going down anyway.

[urchinboy2]

they broke the rules and have to face the concequences.

[Sue]

I just wish that an 18pt deduction was all we had to worry about and that we had £12,000 to pay a fine!!

[Barry Scott]

not signing it either. The rules were there, they were broken. end of.

[Mr Happy]

Couldn't agree more. Enfield Town FC is also a fans run club but ALL clubs, no matter what there structure is should abide by the laws of the game. The attitude of AFC Wimbledon stinks anyway. Check out their website. They are still claiming the honours won by Wimbledon/MK Dons. Arrogant b*stards.

[Staines-upon-Thames Rebel]

Tough titty AFC it serves you right!

 

And to add to that you will not be getting my money when we play you at KINGSTON!!!

[brighton_rebel]

Why you jumping the fence?

We sound like a bunch of sour graped bastards ourselves, every womble fan i've met has been ok. 18 points deduction for playing a player from another country - wales - is ridicolous, when the premier league clubs makes and breaks rules all the time.

 

 

[Guest]

They broke the rules and were punished accordingly. Where's the injustice? Maybe AFC would court more sympathy if they weren't so arrogant. I'm sure they're all ok to chat with but every one of them signs up to the concept of stealing another club's history.

[Roger Rebel]

I would like to point out to you BR and any AFC fans who may be watching this, there is a far more insidious injustice than this.

We had just had our best season finishing 8th in the Conference, but we were thrown out,not for taking bungs, not for cooking the books, or playing illegal players, but because we did not have 19 seats, thats one more seat than you had points. (do da do da)

So i'm sorry live with it, I did notice that when you found out that you had played an illegal player you did not sack him or the idiot that signed him.

[A Rebel and a Saint]

i think its silly to have to get international clearance for a player in wales, but thats the rules, theyve been broken, so AFC must face the penalty.

i have nothing against AFC or its fans, but it couldve happened to anyone.

[Uncle Urchin]

we have all been the victim of our own incompetence and the rules over the years.....I have no sympathy with them at all and if they push this too far the cost to all ryman clubs could be catastrophic.....do they care...of course not.....

 

hard luck and move on....

[brighton_rebel]

Was it right Slough got thrown out of the conference? Of course not (and wasn't it more for financial reasons than just seats?)

18 points deduction for such a minor infringement is a lot, and it wouldn't matter what team it was (ok, i might laugh if it was Wycombe). The fact that it is Wimbledon seems to bring out the worse in people, despite the fact that there supporters got together and started a team from scratch against a typical FA decision to let Franchise go to Milton Keynes.

 

 

[Martin]

The vast majority of AFC fans I've spoken to are good blokes with a sense of perspective about who the club is and where its going. I know several who simply cannot believe they are wasting time and money appealing a decision that appears to follow the league rules precisely. Its unfortunate and it seems harsh but it is not an injustice. They should just face up to it and build themselves up for another crack at the Ryman next season. They seem to have got the hang of the league this season and I'm sure they will be a force next season.

[Barry Scott]

The fact remains that they played someone who wasn't properly cleared for 11 games and picked up 18 points, which have no been deducted. If the proper due diligence had been followed this wouldn't have happened. Sure its such an archaic thing to try and find and probably would have been overlooked in most cases, but the rules weren't followed and they have been punished accordingly.