This program was broadcast Tuesday, 11 May 2010 at 7:00PM on 2xxfm, 98.3mhz ont he Australian Community Radio Network.
In this program we capture some of the drama of Round 4 of the Mens Premier League. Must have been something in the air last weekend!
The Head Coach of Belconnen, Scott Conlon and President of Goulburn Strikers, Shane Wilson give their thoughts on the thriller at Cookbundoon.
The President of the Monaro Panthers expresses his disappointment at the failure to play the scheduled Premier League game against ANU and rejection of the suggestion in the Canberra Times that his club did forfiet the game.
The Woden Valley SC Under 15 Div 1 boys team is off on a football tour in Germany. Its been years in the planning and fundraising. Every Club should do this every year.
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We are at Round 4 in the Mens Pl and Round 5 in the Womens PL. we have reached that point in this competition where the teams begin to shake out on the ladder. Games lost at this time in the season usually become a cause for regret late in the second half of the season as finals positions become the firm objective. Its never a good idea to get to the latter part of the season and hope that others have wins or loses in order for your team to get safe passage. That’s not football, its something else.
Clubs feel the loss or draw and the pressure begins to mount on match officials to minimise the errors of judgement on the field. But like players, refs make mistakes.
The Men’s PL is a case in point – this last weekend the results were diabolically close and with that, a fair share of drama:
• Belco v GS was a very late 3:2 win to Belco
• Tuggeranong v Olympic was a remarkably close 1:0 win to Olympic
• Cooma v CFC was a draw
• Canberra City v Owden Valley was a very , very late win to CC 2:1
And then there was ANU v Monaro. This was a game that warranted attention, as ANU have not earned a point and Monaro have been riding a wave of success. Surprise, surpise the game was cancelled – well to put it more accurately – the ANU home ground was not to PL standard for the Refs to allow play, the PL18 did not play, ANU made managed to gain access to Hawker Enclosed later that day and game start times were bumped back and not much ability to inform supporters, the footballing public or sponsors of the change. Monaro agreed the Pathways could play as they were already to hand at O’Connor Enclosed and could move to the new location. The Pathways game was played at Hawker at a later time than scheduled. However, Monaro declined to play the PL fixture, believing this to be an unsuitable arrangement overall for a PL fixture and preferring to play at another day/time. ANU had in its view done all that it could on the day to relocate the game and believe that was what was required of it by Capital Football. Accordingly, ANU PL team marched out ready to play at Hawker and match officials were obliged to call a close to the game – ANU claimed a forfeit. Two good Clubs who play different but entertaining football now at loggerheads. Both Clubs are represented by smart people in football so no doubt common sense will prevail. What a mess!
Then right on que, the Canberra Times, which gives only the sparing coverage to PL Football got the headline it was looking for – it read “Non – playing Panthers face punishment”. Neither correct nor helpful to either Club. It’s a pity they got the story. Whoever did that din;t help the situation one bit. Instead of reporting any number of good games in the ACT football region that weekend, they reported a game that didn’t get played. That’s not news!
The task for Capital Football is to get to a decision quickly. Lets hope the CF Board can keep its sticky fingers out of proceedings and let the CEO and staff settle the matter.