Soccer league loophole

Press, 2 August 1983, Page 34

Soccer league loophole

By

DAVID LEGGAT

A loophole in the Hertz Soccer League rules means it is possible for a Dunedin club to qualify for the Rothmans League next year, without having won its zone of the local competition. The rules of the national league state that only the three regional league winners may enter the end-of-season play-off, along with the bottom side of this winter’s national competition. In the northern and central regions that rule is straightforward enough.

However, the southern region council’s decision to split its league into two zones to cut the cost of travel means the zone winners must play off for the regional title.

Dunedin City, which already has a national league side, is leading the southern zone by four points from Roslyn-Wakari. But Dunedin City will not be permitted to enter the play-off, so the second-placed team, almost certainly Roslyn-Wakari or North End United, will probably meet Rangers from Christchurch for the right to contest the national league play-off.

Mr Brian Cunningham, the chairman of the southern region council, agreed that there was an anomaly, and it was a situation his council had not foreseen. “It is certainly something we have got to look at,” he said, “but we can not change the rules half-way through the season.” So if Roslyn-Wakari, or North End United, was to win the southern region title, enter and win the national league play-off, there is no rule to prevent it becoming Dunedin’s fifth side to claim a place in New Zealand’s premier soccer competition.