By Adrian Ceddia
SUNSHINE George Cross has been sensationally reinstated into the Victorian Premier League after a Football Federation Victoria (FFV) tribunal upheld a complaint from the club against fellow top-flight team Essendon Royals.
The Georgies, who were relegated from the state’s highest division at the completion of the 2006 season, were given a lifeline by the league after the Royals were stripped of a competition point for fielding a suspended player.
Almost immediately after the decision was handed down last week, Essendon filed an official appeal with a separate league tribunal scheduled to deliver the final verdict tonight (Tuesday).
The player in question, Ilcho Mladenovski, was brought on as a substitute in Essendon’s round 24 loss to Fawkner/Whittlesea, when apparently under suspension from the league.
Sunshine launched a complaint after learning of the indiscretion, and the FFV tribunal stripped one competition point from the Royals, sending the team into the bottom two on the revised ladder and condemning them to play in State League One next year.
Only goal difference separated Sunshine, Essendon and Melbourne Knights after all three sides finished on 30 points after the 2006 season, but the Royals’ stripped point brought the team back to 29 and into the relegation zone with Frankston (23 points).
The FFV claims to have sent Essendon documentation about Mladenovski’s suspension, which the Royals say they never received.
But FFV chief executive Tony Pignata was confident the league had followed protocol in informing Essendon of the relevant information.
“We basically reviewed the facts, and we did send correspondence to Essendon,” he said.
“They are claiming they didn’t receive it, so it was up to them to prove it, otherwise we had to refer the matter to the tribunal, which we did.”
Pignata said while the decision was disheartening to the Royals, Essendon had the option to challenge it through the tribunal.
Sunshine president Charlie Borg said the club had no hesitation in lodging a complaint and was always confident of gaining re-entry into the Premier League.
“This has been going on for two months now. Every club has been training already and we want to know what our destiny is going to be,” he said.
“We strongly believe we should be part of the Premier League in 2007.
“We’re very happy with the way things stand, but you never know what the outcome is going to be. I’m happy we won the first round.”
In other news ahead of the 2007 season, a new promotion/relegation system was floated to the FFV commission last night (Monday).
Under the new model, any teams under the league would be allowed to apply for promotion to the Premier League for 2008, instead of automatic promotion and relegation for State League One teams.
If successful, the system would start as a once off next year, with provisions to make it a permanent change in future years.
And the league’s proposed pre season competition, originally scheduled for December, has been pushed forward to January next year due to the unavailability of grounds as a result of stage two water restrictions.
