Wangaratta penalised over breach of player payment cap

WANGARATTA Magpies Football Netball Club have been found guilty and penalised for breaching the 2022 Allowable Player Payment Cap, following an AFLNEB Disciplinary Committee hearing on Thursday night. The Ovens & Murray Football Netball League club faced three charges under AFL Victoria's Allowable Player Payment (APP) Rules, for failing to lodge player declarations or non–declared player statements correctly and exceeded the 2022 APP cap of $125,000. "In December 2022 the club self–reported an overpayment due to an administrative error," Wangaratta FNC said in a media release. "The breach was rectified once identified and the club has fully co–operated with the integrity officer throughout the review. "At the hearing the independent tribunal acknowledged that this was not a deliberate breach and a non–intentional administration error, however it should have been picked up earlier." For exceeding the cap, the club has been given the following sanctions: • a fine of $28,000. • the men's senior football team will be ineligible to receive premiership match points for the first two home–and–away games of the 2023 season. • the men's senior football team have had their total team points reduced for the entire 2023 season to 36, a reduction of four. Reprimands were given for the other charges. The hearing was conducted by an independent panel appointed by the AFL NEB Commission following an integrity review of the club's 2022 Allowable Player Payments. Based on the evidence of the review, the region charged the club in March and referred the matter to the disciplinary committee. Anomalies in the club's reporting had identified several issues in the management of player payments, including the over payments. In a statement on Friday, the AFLNEB said it acknowledged that the Wangaratta Magpies FNC had self–reported the overpayments which has resulted in the club exceeding the cap once the error had been identified and it has cooperated with the integrity officer in the conduct of the review. "As a region, AFLNEB is committed to the integrity of the Allowable Player Payments rules and has undertaken over 20 integrity reviews in recent years on clubs from across regional leagues," the statement read. "These reviews have supplemented the random internal compliance reviews of clubs conducted by AFLNEB to ensure lodgements of documents within timeframes are being adhered to."

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