Bell Post Hill is back in the GDFNL top five after members of the league executive today overturned the result of Saturday’s one-point loss to Belmont Lions at Winter Reserve.
The Panthers disputed the outcome after claiming a goal it kicked during the second quarter through milestone man Caleb Bacely was incorrectly added to the Lions’ score.
It was included on Bell Post Hill’s tally a short time later but not removed from the Belmont Lions’ score, resulting in a 19.7 (121) to 18.12 (120) victory for the home team on the day.
Video evidence and the data from the game following coding by the GDFNL’s statistical partner Premier Data found the final score to be in the Panthers’ favour, 18.11 (119) to 18.7 (115)
President Neville Whitley confirmed the decision to K rock Football late this afternoon, referring to Rule 27 in the competition’s rules: “the League has the sole discretion to deal with and settle all disputes received by Clubs”.
That has overridden Rule 20: “Goal umpires’ scores shall be the official scores of the game”.
“Bell Post Hill lodged a dispute, and we had a look at all the evidence that was available to us, such as the video on the day, the Premier Data statistics and some verbal stuff as well.
“Under our rules, we can look at disputes.”
“One of the reasons we looked at was, ‘What’s the right thing to do by the game with the evidence that we had?’.
As a result, Bell Post Hill has held its spot inside the top five, replacing Inverleigh, which had taken the Panthers’ spot following a 10-point win over North Geelong.
Coach Ash Witney has spoken of his relief, revealing that he had sleepless nights awaiting the outcome.
“I was up at 2 o’clock this morning – I couldn’t get back to sleep,” he said.
“And then I think it was about 3 o’clock the night before – Sunday night, Monday morning –
“So I haven’t had that much sleep.
“But common sense has prevailed. I was pretty confident that the right thing would be done, but you always still worry about these kinds of things.
“In the end, who wins football games is whoever scores the most, and we score the most; it’s pretty simple.”
Belmont Lions co-president Rhett Smith says his club are “pretty disappointed” by the outcome.
“The umpires waved their flags at the end of each quarter, confirming the scores,” Smith said.
“The last minute and a half of the game, when we had possession of the footy and we didn’t look to attack the goals; we played down the wings and kept possession.
“And it is disappointing because we walked away from Saturday believing that we had won the game fair and square, and we’re eight points clear on top of the ladder,
“But now we find ourselves one game clear, which is still a good result for us, being a game clear with four rounds to go; but obviously, that eight-point breathing space going into the last four rounds sits better with us.”
Smith says no decision has been made on whether the Lions would appeal the decision.
“It’s up for discussion,” he said.
“This news is pretty fresh to us. We’re going to get all our coaches together and our executive committee and have a chat and see what grounds we have to (appeal).
Whitley says the GDFNL will consider making an adjustment to the league’s rules that allows for video footage and statistics, as a result of coding, to be used in the future.
“To use it as evidence, I think it’s something that we should be looking at to put into the bylaws,” Whitley said.
As of 6:15 pm, the result was yet to be updated on PlayHQ.
X: @krockfootball
GDFNL LADDER – ROUND 14
| WON | LOST | DRAWS | POINTS | % | |
| Belmont Lions | 11 | 3 | 0 | 48 | 116.46 |
| East Geelong | 10 | 4 | 0 | 40 | 149.13 |
| North Geelong | 10 | 4 | 0 | 40 | 135.93 |
| Thomson | 9 | 5 | 0 | 36 | 112.82 |
| Bell Post Hill | 9 | 5 | 0 | 36 | 102.66 |
| Inverleigh | 8 | 6 | 0 | 32 | 110.23 |
| Anakie | 7 | 7 | 0 | 28 | 101.35 |
| Werribee Centrals | 6 | 8 | 0 | 24 | 107.88 |
| Bannockburn | 5 | 9 | 0 | 20 | 105.4 |
| Winchelsea | 4 | 10 | 0 | 16 | 79.47 |
| Geelong West Giants | 3 | 11 | 0 | 12 | 72.03 |
| Corio | 2 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 52.48 |
