Altrincham deducted 18 points

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Robins handed 18-point deduction
James Robinson
Robinson left Altrincham in February to move to Australia
Altrincham have had 18 points deducted by the Conference and have been fined £1,000 for fielding an ineligible player earlier this season.

The club are waiting to receive the decision in writing before deciding whether to appeal to the FA.

The ruling would put the Robins bottom of the Conference and would almost certainly mean relegation.

The player in question, James Robinson, made 13 appearances for Altrincham this season, scoring four times.


Richmond discovered he was still registered to play in Iceland when he signed for Accrington
Altrincham club spokesman

Robinson, 23, signed for the Moss Lane club from Accrington Stanley last November when he did not have international clearance.

The player left Moss Lane in February to join Richmond Eagles in Australia.

"The problem only emerged because he went from us to Australia," an Altrincham spokesman said.

"The first we knew of the problem was when they (Richmond) came back to us and said they had discovered he was still registered to play in Iceland when he signed for Accrington."

The Altrincham spokesman continued: "As far as the club are concerned, the manager Graham Heathcote, and the chairman both want to speak to the players before saying anything more.

"The appeal needs to be made within two weeks, so we are expecting written confirmation of the punishment very soon."

Newly-crowned Conference champions Accrington and the player were charged by the FA for playing Robinson in a reserve fixture without international clearance.

The promoted club have already responded and will learn their fate at a hearing yet to be scheduled.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/altrincham/4927718.stm

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Well this is pretty silly really. A team makes a genuine mistake and gets relegated. The team that would have been relegated isntead of them have been sticking their noses into it with the Forest Green secretary saying that the conference "for the good of the game" should query the decision by the FA who did not charge Alty with anything, leading to todays meeting and 18pts deducted.

Considering that in Boston's promotion winning season they were found to have been submitting fake contracts to the taxman and FA that listed their player's wages as lower as they actually were so they were getting away with commiting fraud and got away with a 4pt deduction from the beginning of the next season and got promoted, it's an absolutely scandalously high deduction.
 
Unfortunately the Conference has a recent history of bigger, richer clubs ganging up on the small clubs and effectively having their way with them.

Incidentely James Robinson also played for Accrington but as they did not sign him on Conference forms they have been excluded from any punishment.
 
I just read this story, and it does seem very harsh. Considering how low they are in the league, it's not like he's helped them gain promotion, and I doubt the 4 goals he scored we *that* helpful. Yes, fine them and deduct some points, but giving them an 18 point deduction is effectively relegating them on the spot. Very harsh if it doesn't get reduced.
 
So destroy some conferance club for unwittingly fielding some guy who's got a mix up with his registration.

But not do anything whatsover to prem clubs who tap up, make illegal payments, etc etc.
 
atpbx said:
But not do anything whatsover to prem clubs who tap up, make illegal payments, etc etc.

That's what I'm thinking. The F.A are a bunch of hypocritical overpaid waste of space *******. They really are.
 
Yeah I understand that it was the Conference that dished out the point deduction, but are the F.A not going to have their own investigation? Or are they too busy these days collecting stupid fines from the Premiership? This falls into the F.A's jurisdiction as well, would there be an 18 point deduction in the Premiership for something similar, I really doubt it. :)
 
Apprently Forest Green Rovers originally reported Altrincham to the FA. Hardly surprising if it's true, given that they are currently bottom and hoping for another reprieve.

This link shows the damage - http://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/league.jsp?comp=5

It's standard 'we're getting relegated' practise. Gateshead, when bottom of the table, complained that Farnborough and Slough didn't have enough seats. Farnborough installed some more, Slough got kicked out. Didn't save Gateshead mind.
 
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Don't think we can blame the FA for this one,they have said that Alty have no case to answer.This is down to the conference bods themselves - the same ones who let Boston off with no punishment for false accounting - a 'proper' crime
 
18points seems a bit draconian. I seem to remember smaller punishments being dished out in the past for similar offences, IIRC my local team Salisbury had around 3-4pts(?) deducted for fielding an ineligible player a few years back. Then again he did play 13 games so I suppose you could say that he had more of an effect.

I'd be interested to know what the results were in the 13 matches he played.
 
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