Capital 1

and Andy Bevin and new signing Southern United's best Irishman, Eric Molloy, so 4 National League players and 1st team keeper, Phil Imray also played. May be within the rules but is playing 4 National League players in Capital 1 (3 levels below) against a team that needs 1 point from their last 4 games to win the league really in the spirit of the game?

Still, suppose it gives KCU the chance to clinch the title at home next weekend when they play Wainui

Miramar will be throwing everything they can at this team last few rounds, with their CL side safe, their third team has already won Capital 2 and won't be able to be promoted unless their reserves also get promoted.

Would this also make them the only team in CF with three teams in the top 3 grades?

No surprise that they won Cap 2 - that team finished 6th in Cap 1 last season but got relegated due to the rule that clubs can't have more than one team in the top 3 divisions (Cap Prem, 1 & 2) Miramar 2nds finished 3rd bottom in Cap prem but as Petone got relegated and Waterside lost the playoff it meant 3 teams got relegated

They would be the only club to have teams in the top 3 grades

hard to know which team is which most weekends

I thought I'd get to see the first trophy of the season awarded on Sunday but Miramar spoiled KCU's potential party winning 6-1

here is my write up about it

and some photos

Miramar 15 nil over stokes valley today. Superb well done guys 

Genuine question. Isn't Central league considered the top division for a Wellington based club?

CL is a separate league with separate regs and separate ruling body to CF comps. Surely you know this?

I was stupidly ignorant actually, but thanks. The last time I lived in Wellington was in the mid 90s and I wasn't involved in football at the time. I hadn't considered the nature of CL being a two fed (4/5) competition; unlike fed 6 mainland which covers chch and top of the south. 

hmmm

Definitely the largest score-line I can remember in Cap 1 in the last decade or so.

Feel a bit sorry for Stokes Valley, even though the result favours a couple of teams I support. Pretty farcical really. Maybe a rule needs to be introduced next year where National League players can't play for a team below Champs Prem unless it's their clubs 1st team...

Tight Battles may explain

fairly easy to make it 'players who played for a national league team during the preceeding season"

teams unhappy but Miramar haven’t broken any rules. Sounds like new rules will be put in place next year though. https://i.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/95467023...

On the beersies early?

Big effort from Tawa holding Team Wellington to 3-0. Not a bad result for them. Uni especially, but the rest of the league as well have every right to be pissed off that Miramar are exploiting a loophole against the spirit of the rules.

Rule 6.10 prevents someone who's played 75 per cent of a team's matches to re-grade, but due to Team Wellington players like Jackson only recently returning from a break, they were 'ungraded'.

"What Miramar have done may be morally questionable, and probably not the intent of the rule, but it's not illegal," Reid said.

Sounds like textbook loophole exploitation to me.

rumour has it that stop out drop 2 national league players the week beforehand to play against Miramar reserves. No one seems to have mentioned that?

Semantics aside, its against what the rules intended and is just a general dick move.

Rumour  - unconfirmed - stokes Valley have appealed ineligible players and have been succesful. Apparently someone not registered so the 15 nil result will be a 3 nil.win to SV

Hope this is the case just for the lolz!  The classic 18 goal & 6 point reversal!

Possibly the worst reason ever to keep doing something

Untrue 

Here we go again, call in the lawyers

11 teams again???

please not

rules are there to be pushed and miramar are good at it and know what's legal and what's not.

This is why the special 11 team ruling was so stupid as we all knew miramar knew they were breaking the rules and NW was just a sore loser/relegated

They had complained at the start of the season of team fixing at miramar at the start of the season so miramar played the joker on the last game of the season to help BNU move above NW and out of relegation  to pay NW back i am sure.

Then capital football became a joke by making a special rule to allowing NW (poor losers) to stay in the league that the NZ football ruling   relegated them from.

Lawyers won't help the game…..or stop Miramar pushing the rules.

As morally questionable as it is, I challenge anyone here to say that their club wouldn't have done the same thing in the same situation if those resources were available to them.

As it stands Miramar were in a position where they weren't challenging for CL, weren't on a cup run and risked the possibility of missing out on promotion for not one but two teams.

They've definitely gone overboard with the use of their top players but at the least it's going to mean that CF will look at the regrading rules and hopefully come up with something that is a bit more well balanced and fair.

Everyone is hung up on this National League Player thing but they all have been Miramar players since about May.  

Yeah fair point, edited my post to suit...