Barwon Heads will remain in fifth spot on the Bellarine ladder with one round remaining after AFL Barwon determined the result of Saturday’s clash with Queenscliff would stand.
AFL Barwon Commission’s Football Netball Operations sub-committee was due to meet tonight (Tuesday) but held a special meeting at lunchtime today to review the Coutas’ request.
The final score had the Seagulls four points in front of Queenscliff, 14.4 (88) to 12.12 (84).
However, Queenscliff challenged the result after a goal was added to Barwon Heads’ score after the half-time break.
One of the goal umpires’ cards had the Seagulls kicking 3.3 in the second term to be 5.3 at the main break.
The other goal umpire’s card, the timekeepers, and the live scorer all recorded 2.4.
“The score will stand, noting that scoreboard integrity is incredibly important when it comes to how any fixture of football and netball in our region transpires,” Region General Manager Ed Wilson told K rock Football.
“But there’s certainly a number of opportunities and takeaways from what transpired on Saturday in terms of how things can improve in the future.”
Both clubs have acknowledged through viewing the vision of the second quarter that an error was made.
“We definitely know from watching match footage, from speaking to the umpires, and other officials that were part of that fixture, the confusion that transpired, and the uncertainty that transpired between a number of officials, certainly created what was a challenging situation post-game,” Wilson said.
“The score is the absolute integrity when it comes to any sporting fixture, and as such, we can’t afford to get the score wrong.
“So, that’s where it has been challenged in this situation.
“But, we’ve arrived at the conclusion we have, to keep the score as it is to ensure we maintain fixture integrity.”
With no rules in the AFL Barwon laws around using vision to challenge a result, Wilson says
“One thing we do know from this is, we’re not going to step away from making the decision we have to keep the score as it stands and then just move on; we’ve got to prepare adequately for the future,” he said.
“Yes, absolutely, it’s going to be something that we need to unpack in the off-season so that if we were to find ourselves in a situation like this in the future, what would we do?”
“But, as it stands at the moment, we’re very content in terms of the decision that’s been made, as it best aligns to the match-day integrity.
More to come
X: @krockfootball
