A-League revoke Gold Coast licence
Reuters - Wednesday 29 February 2012, 05:06
Gold Coast United owner Clive
Palmer had his A-League licence terminated by Football
Federation Australia (FFA) on Wednesday after refusing to back
down in a row over a slogan on the team's shirt.
The club, bottom of the 10-team league with four rounds of
the regular season remaining, had been involved in a battle of
wills with the FFA after putting the words "freedom of speech"
on their shirts last weekend.
The FFA hopes to persuade the club's players to fulfill
their remaining fixtures and is confident the league will have
10 teams next season despite the departure of the Gold Coast
team, who attracted just 1,723 fans to a home match this month.
"FFA has today terminated the A-League licence held by Clive
Palmer," FFA chairman Frank Lowy told a news conference.
"The conscious and deliberate contravention of FFA policies
and procedures, deliberate defiance of a directive given by FFA
and the repeated public statements made by, or on behalf of,
Gold Coast United bring the A-League, FFA and the game of
football into disrepute."
A billionaire mining magnate, Palmer launched the club to
much fanfare as an expansion team in 2008 and they finished
third and fourth in the regular season in their first two years,
albeit in front of the smallest crowds in the league.
"We intend to fight this ludicrous decision by incompetent
FFA in the courts," Palmer posted on his Twitter page.
The row was precipitated by Palmer's comments to a newspaper
on February 19, when he said did not like football, which he thought a
"hopeless" game, and preferred rugby league.
REFUGEE PLIGHT
Those comments were condemned by FFA chief executive Ben
Buckley and the public airing of views continued until the team
turned out wearing the contentious slogan in place of the logo
of club sponsors Hyatt against Melbourne Victory last weekend.
The FFA considered cancelling the match and warned the club
against further breaches of the Club Participation Agreement
which governs relationships between the clubs and the league.
Gold Coast chief executive Clive Mensink hit back on Monday
saying the FFA had "overreacted" to the use of the slogan, which
he said was nothing to do with the row and was being used
because Palmer's group of companies was involved in legal action
against Hyatt.
Mensink said it was aimed at highlighting the plight of
refugees and would remain on the clubs shirts for the remainder
of the season "and possibly next season as well", putting the
ailing club on collision course with the league.
Buckley said Gold Coast's players would be contacted and
asked to play the last four fixtures, starting with the match
against Wellington Phoenix, which is scheduled to take place in
the New Zealand capital on Sunday.
"If we need extra time to put in place the necessary
arrangements then we will consider postponing the match,"
Buckley said.
"The players are just one of the many innocent victims in all
this and FFA will do its best to enable them to see out their
playing season on the pitch. They deserve that opportunity at
the very least."
Phoenix said in a news release they hoped the match would go
ahead.