Tasman United

I feel sorry for Southern - I do and I hope there is a review

However the hate for Tasman is stupid and people who are doing that are entirely missing the point.

How many people complaining about Comet being the issue actually get in and use Comet for their clubs?

As far as I am aware - at a very high level this is breakdown of the issue

Players are registered in Comet to be eligible to play in the competition and are put into a catalogue for the team they are playing for (there are some other requirements like signed agreements, having done a Drugfree and awareness of gambling courses).  From there the teams can select their 16 players for their game close to the time of the game by loading starters and subs - however...

NZF want for media purposes (I'm guessing) a list from which the match day 16 will be selected each week (a couple of days before the game).  Comet is not really built for that so this is done in an excel spreadsheet and sent to NZF.

If a player is not on the extended squad list and then is selected in the match day 16 I think that is where issues arise.

This is not a registration issue but a process issue - and as far as I'm aware a pretty normal one across football.

A "zero-tolerance" policy that punishes a harmless human error like this with the harshest possible outcome runs the risk of damaging the integrity of the competition itself.

Chopah doesn't quite have it right.

There are three things that must be done for a player to be eligible to play for a team in the national league.

1. The player must be registered with the club. This is done in Comet, as all registrations at all levels of the game are.

2. The player must sign an Amateur Player Agreement (ie a contract) with the club. That agreement then has to be uploaded to the player's profile in Comet.

3. The player must be aded to the team's list of registered players, which can't contain more than 23 names. Players can be added to this list at any time, until it contains 23, but the only time names can be removed is during the mid-season transfer window. This is done in a spreadsheet to be shared with NZ Football and the other clubs.

Step 3 is what wasn't done in this case, for two players – one of whom came off the bench, one of whom didn't. It is a two-minute job, and it has been part of the process longer than Comet has. It is in no way an extra bit of admin and it has been done fine for 200-odd other players in the league.

Quite frankly, checking matchday squads against the lists of registered players should be a Monday morning job in the NZF competitions department, so that every instance is caught and clubs who flag issues don't cop undeserved flak, as Tasman have in this case.

Bollocks. The hate is entirely deserved. I'm not saying they're not entitled to have protested - they obviously were - but they will be well aware that they look like dicks for doing so. No doubt they're comfortable that copping that hate is worth 3 points.
(Not sure I agree if they're still going to be wooden spoon contenders but hey, that's their choice)

I think the reason why they are getting ragged on is that they lost 4-0 and the 2 players concerned came on as late subs (?) If it was 1-0 or 2-1, I would think 'yeah you can protest that'

Common sense says that while Southern are in the wrong, Tasman got their backsides handed to them on the field. No administrative error fixes that and there are times where you are well with in your rights to act on an injustice, but in doing so its actually the wrong thing to do.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/119635666/tasman-united-end-auckland-citys-unbeaten-run-in-national-football-league

Tasman beat ACFC for reals this time, not just an admin error.

7/11 starters raised in Nelson/Marlborough and only 2 imports. How good?