TIGER PROBE
Torquay to fight claims of player rule breach
TORQUAY Cricket Club has vowed to vigorously defend itself against allegations of a points cap breach.
The Tigers were last night seeking legal action after revelations they exceeded the player points threshold in two, possibly three, matches this season.
The club has been summoned to a hearing on Monday night as the GCA investigates the points allo- cation of a handful of players.
But Torquay president Steve Young said the club was prepared to fight the charges, arguing that the GCA had checked off the club’s points at the start of the season.
“To be honest, I’m disappointed that we’ve got to the situation where people are starting to question us,” Young said.
“We’ve got an email trail that stipulates what we did, and (coach) Dale McDonald asked for clarification on numerous occasions to make sure that the points were right.
“We amended the points table. We actually had Ash Russell and Luke Slater a point higher than they should have been. With any player we weren’t sure of, we went a point above what they should be. And GCA rules show that they can amend points at any given stage.”
The Tigers are alleged to have breached the points against St Peter’s and Bell Park, with GCA president Barry McFarlane revealing another match is also in question.
Should Torquay be found guilty, it faces the prospect of being fined or, worse, stripped of premiership points.
“Because of all the confusion, we have called Torquay in on Monday night to go through their points with them,” McFarlane said.
“We’ve gone through it and there’s a couple of discrepancies that we’re not quite sure how they arrived at the figures they did.
“We will let them have their say and a decision will be made on what action will be taken, if any, in relation to the games where it would appear they were over the points limit.”
Recruit Alex Mann is one player who has come under the microscope.
Initially allocated two points, Mann has since been upgraded to a six-point player, subsequently pushing Torquay above the threshold in matches he played.
Other players in the Tigers’ first XI side have been amended in recent weeks, causing the GCA to probe the points.
“They brought it to our at- tention that there was one player that needed to be amended on points, mind you, that was leading into the Round 7 game,” Young said.
“Dale put the points through reasonably late, but they were in prior to the first round.
“We also sought clarification on Alex Mann’s points. He played third XI synthetic in the Northern Metropolitan Cricket Association, which would rate him as a four-point player.
“We weren’t sure what he was, and we asked for qualification on that, because the last thing we wanted to do was have a player go over the points.
“Alex was granted a twopoint player, and after clubs questioned how we fit all these players in, Alex was reviewed and deemed a six-point player, which we were taken aback by, but we accepted it and moved on.”
Young stressed that his club had simply abided by the rules.
“If a committee approves the points that are awarded to a player, then what are we governed by?” Young said.
“The GCA has thrown it back on us to adjudicate the points, but what do you do in our situation where we weren’t sure and we sought clarification on those points and we didn’t receive any information from the GCA?”
McFarlane said the GCA would attempt to ascertain whether it was an “honest mistake” from the Tigers.
He acknowledged the GCA had a level of responsibility as it approved the points allocated at the start of the season.
“There’s a bit of that involved, but there’s also some queries that were put to Torquay that the GCA doesn’t think have been fully explained, so we need an explanation,” McFarlane said.