AFL Northern Territory (AFLNT) advises the independent Tribunal sat tonight, Wednesday 27 February, to hear the appeal lodged by Nightcliff Football Club in relation to the ruling made by the AFLNT Executive for the result in the TIO NTFL Men’s Division 1 Qualifying Final between Nightcliff and Waratah, played on Saturday 23 February at the Marrara Cricket Ground.
Please see here to refer to the decision made by the AFLNT Executive on Monday 25 February.
The Tribunal dismissed the appeal and in doing so the result stands as – Waratah 8.9.57 to Nightcliff 8.8.56.
On the particular appeal grounds (as listed below) put forward by Nightcliff, the Tribunal ruled that ground 1 was not valid and ground 2 was not made out.
The AFLNT Executive, by not including the Nightcliff Football Club in the review process, failed to observe the principles of procedural fairness. This was an error of law;
The AFLNT Executive, in overturning the decision of the officiating umpire and the AFLNT match manager presiding over the game has acted ultra vires. This was an error of law.
The Tribunal stated;
“The circumstances that occurred on this day were unfair; we think it was probably unfair to both sides, but certainly it was unfair to Nightcliff who along with Waratah did proceed under a misunderstanding as to what was required, and that misunderstanding was sourced with the umpires…It was a very regrettable series of events that occurred on this day. However, we must apply the rules.
“The fact that regrettable mistakes were made on this day does not permit either the AFLNT Executive or this Tribunal to depart from the rules that govern the game. There is no discretion to ignore the rules. We do not accept that the decision to apply the rules made by the AFLNT Executive was ultra-vires, indeed in our view, it was the obligation of the Executive to ensure the rules of the game were complied with, and that is what was done when the decision was made, from which this appeal arises. We see no error on the part of the Executive in the approach that was taken, and we, therefore, dismiss the appeal.”
The Tribunal also added that its ruling was for Nightcliff Football Club to have the fee it submitted with its appeal notice to AFLNT to have its case heard, returned in full.
AFLNT will issue a full refund to Nightcliff Football Club.
