South Fremantle hit with large fine, points deduction for player payment breach in 2021

An independent audit ordered by the West Australian Football Commission found that the club breached rule five of the WAFL rules and regulations. That involves providing player payments that were not requested nor approved by the WAFC to be excluded from the TPP.

It is understood clubs who qualify for the grand final are regularly audited in addition to yearly club audits. It’s believed South Fremantle accepted one breach but hotly disputed another before eventually also accepting it.

In addition to the loss of premiership points for the 2023 season and fines totalling $25,000, South Fremantle has also been hit with a reduction in its TPP for 2023 of $10,525 and a reduction of 10 players points for the 2023 season.

The penalties are in line with those developed and approved by the clubs in 2014 for breaches of the TPP.

In a statement issued on behalf of the club’s board, South Fremantle said the club had taken steps to enhance and strengthen its TPP and other football compliance responsibilities.

“The South Fremantle Football Club is disappointed to find ourselves in a position to receive WAFC sanctions in relation to TPP matters stemming from the 2021 WAFL season,” the statement read.

“We understand and completely accept that the upholding of the rules and regulations, particularly those around salary cap and equalisation, are paramount to the integrity and fairness of our great competition.

“Our mistakes in relation to this matter were in no way deliberate, an opinion directly reinforced by the West Australian Football Commission.

“They were administration errors that will not reoccur, and we apologise unconditionally to all stakeholders with a commitment to ensure this never happens again.

“Although notably severe, we accept all sanctions imposed upon us. Since the breach, the Club has ensured that improved administration procedures have been put in place to allow full confidence across the business that these errors won’t take place again.

“We pride ourselves, our brand and our 123-year history in the WAFL competition on always acting fairly & equitably, despite being fiercely competitive.”

WAFC chair Wayne Martin reinforced the Commission and South Fremantle’s view that the breaches aren’t intentional.

“The WAFC accepts that the breaches were not committed deliberately, in the sense that there was no conscious and wilful attempt to circumvent the TPP regime, however breaches of this nature provided the Club with an advantage,” Martin said in a statement.

“It is extremely disappointing that our independent audit has uncovered these breaches that contravene the integrity of the Competition and the work we do in ensuring the WAFL is fair and even.

“The WAFC has a focused strategy across football of displaying contemporary governance standards and we will continue to ensure this is at the forefront of our Clubs’ strategies into the future to ensure incidents like this do not occur.”

The Bulldogs have accepted the penalty.

More to come.