Gold Coast United licence revoked

[the_flight_of_the_magpie]

The slanging match between Gold Coast United and Football Federation Australia worsened on Saturday night when FFA formally advised the club it was in material breach of its A-League club participation agreement.
This follows United's decision to ignore an FFA directive to play Saturday's night's match against Melbourne Victory in shirts bearing the words "Freedom of Speech".
The club did not have FFA approval for use of the slogan on the playing strip and stadium signage, as required under the terms of its participation in the league.
"FFA directed the club not to use the slogan on the playing strip or in signage and set a deadline of 5pm AEST for the club to signal its compliance with the direction," said FFA CEO Ben Buckley in a statement released on Saturday night.
"The club declined to comply with the FFA direction and proceeded regardless. FFA has informed the club it is in material breach of its obligations."
"FFA has authorised the match against Melbourne Victory at Skilled Park to proceed despite GCUs conduct.
"We have stated firmly that the integrity of the competition is paramount, but I put Gold Coast United on notice that our decision to allow the match to proceed does not mean the breaches are waived (and) we will separately deal with the material breaches in accordance with the CPA."
The issue follows recent comments made by Gold Coast owner Clive Palmer who labelled the A-League a joke and said he preferred rugby league.
A club spokesman said on Saturday night the slogan did not refer to football, rather freedom of speech in general.
http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8425646&mch=snlink&cmp=art_8425646

 

[Big Sam]

Enough of this farce. Time to revoke the licence.

On Fox's coverage, Bozza made the very astute point that Palmer was a massive hypocrite for not affording Miron any freedom of speech for his comments on the 17 year old captain last week.

 

[roboshark]

All this is just hurting the a league....or is it helping

Dunno

 

[E.T.D]

Expulsion for the remainder of the season would be the best initial punishment.

Openly disagreeing with a governing body over issues is reasonable. Blatantly rubbing the governing body's nose in the mud to get your point across is just begging for punishment.

Fines aren't going to cut it on this occassion, and Palmer and his club must be made an example of.

The advertising of that slogan around the stadium was the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

[jc155776]

Palmer is a muppet.

But the FFA are a bunch of self interest f**king corrupt clowns.

 

[juanfarkall]

Palmer is a muppet.

But the FFA are a bunch of self interest f**king corrupt clowns.

This.

BTW Bosnich is a dribbling f**kwit.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Palmer is a muppet.

But the FFA are a bunch of self interest f**king corrupt clowns.

Fury were the worst franchise ever and that includes that f**king Kingz.

 

[langpark]

Enough of this farce. Time to revoke the licence.

On Fox's coverage, Bozza made the very astute point that Palmer was a massive hypocrite for not affording Miron any freedom of speech for his comments on the 17 year old captain last week.

This is the first thing that came to mind when I read the article.

Both parties are looking worse and worse the longer this thing goes on, behaving like a bunch of teenage girls... Complete embarrassment to the game...

 

[Big Sam]

Fury were the worst franchise ever and that includes that f**king Kingz.

Really? They actually had a higher crowd average than both GC and the Kingz/Knights. They just ran out of money.

 

[Raiders_Premiers]

Strip the fat merkin of his license once and for all and give it to a city that actually deserves one, like Canberra.

Gold Coast is a sporting wasteland.

 

[Misanthrope]

I was a big fan of the Fury. They were the victims of the failed World Cup bid. Had a better community engagement program than most sides in the A-League and outdrew the Gold Coast.

They just didn't have a billionaire backing them.

 

[nibbs]

Fury were the worst franchise ever and that includes that f**king Kingz.

Knights*

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

No,FC Kingz was correct. The one from the NSL which was a waste of space.

 

[whall15]

FFA terminates Palmer licence – All efforts to be made to field team to complete the season

Wednesday, 29 February 2012 1:30 PM


Football Federation Australia (FFA) today announced it had issued Gold Coast United FC Pty Ltd with a notice of termination following material breaches of the Club Participation Agreement that governs the conduct of all clubs in the Hyundai A-League.

The termination has been made following at least three clear breaches of the Agreement in recent days, namely:

1. A conscious and deliberate contravention of FFA Policies and Procedures.

2. Deliberate defiance of a direction that was given by FFA; and

3. Repeated public statements made by or on behalf of Gold Coast United that bring the A-League, FFA and the game of football into disrepute and are prejudicial to the interests of FFA, the A-League and the game of football in Australia.

Gold Coast United committed material breaches last Saturday night at Skilled Stadium when the playing strip and the stadium signage featured an unapproved slogan, in deliberative contravention of a direction from FFA.

FFA Chairman Frank Lowy AC today expressed his profound disappointment that FFA had been left with no alternative than to terminate the Gold Coast United’s licence.

"The material breach on Saturday night was followed by a statement from the club that it intended to continue using the slogan," said Mr Lowy.

“This behavior came on top of public comments that displayed a total lack of respect for football and the millions of Australians who love the game.

"Such disrespectful behavior, a flagrant disregard for the rules and a stated intent to continue breaking the rules made for an intolerable situation.

“As custodians of the game, we had to act to protect the integrity of the Hyundai A-League on behalf of the other nine clubs, players, coaches and most importantly, the fans.”

During the past four weeks Gold Coast United has on several occasions expressed to FFA its strong intention to leave the competition but during the same period issued contradictory statements that it intends to remain in the competition while at the same time continuing to breach FFA policies.

FFA has exhausted attempts with the owner of Gold Coast United to facilitate an orderly process under which the club could complete its remaining fixtures in the 2011/12 Hyundai A-League season and comply with its obligations under the Club Participation Agreement.

Mr Lowy made repeated attempts this morning to talk directly with Mr Palmer to appeal to him to allow a smooth completion of the season and a dignified exit from the game for Mr Palmer. These calls went unanswered.

FFA’s priority now is to explore all options to field a Gold Coast team for the remaining four matches of its season. This would avoid any impact on the standing of the remaining nine clubs and be the fairest outcome for the competition, clubs, players and fans.

Mr Lowy appealed to the football community, including owners of the other nine clubs, to use whatever influence possible to encourage Mr Palmer to allow a smooth and fair outcome to the season.

“FFA will exhaust every practical option to have Gold Coast finish the season,” he said.

FFA CEO Ben Buckley said all practical steps to enable a Gold Coast team to complete the season would be explored, including:

• Talking directly with Gold Coast players to encourage them to enter into arrangements with FFA to play the final four games of the season.

• FFA to pay the players for appearing in these games.

• Possible postponement of Sunday’s scheduled match between Gold Coast and Wellington Phoenix.

“If we need extra time to put in place the necessary arrangements then we will consider postponing the match,” he said.

A-League General Manager Lyall Gorman is already on the Gold Coast to talk with players and make arrangements for the season to continue unimpeded.

“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,” Mr Buckley said.

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/...e-season/45760

 

[Raiders_Premiers]

Aaaaaaaand they're gone http://www.foxsports.com.au/footbal...almers-agitation/story-e6frf4gl-1226285089378

Good f**king riddance to that utter merkin Palmer. Glad to see Lowy and co. show some balls

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Should never have been given one in the first place like the Fury.

 

[hybrid_tiger]

Should never have been given one in the first place like the Fury.

Exactly. Yet it won't stop idiots like that fence sitting wanker Robbie Slater kissing Lowy and the FFA's arse, however,

The idiot is at it again on Twitter with these gems:

"Gold coast gone . Lowy strikes . Good on him ! Not acceptable"

"Clive Palmer hang your head in shame . Well done Frank Lowy and Ben Buckley . Clive you disrespected the game . Bye"

Does the stupid f**kwit realise who gave Palmer the licence in the first place? FMD. Well done indeed Robbie, you idiot.

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

and so ends another goldcoast sports team.

i doubt they go back.

9 team league next year?

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

@Hybrid. The only reason they gave GCU a license was because the path of the NRL/AFL included Gold Coast. It was never a good bid to begin with now we're back to that NSL season where Adelaide came in with a few rounds to go after western pride or whatever that abomination was that got booted.

They should have had two Melbourne teams from the start. A western Sydney team will fail as well, they can't even support the current SFC team.

Buckley and Lowy need to GTFO

 

[Xfactor1979]

and so ends another goldcoast sports team.

Teams tend to go down over there