Football Federation Victoria Grievance and Disciplinary Tribunal

Matter: Murray United Football Club and Twin City Wanderers SC re: Tyler Curran

Date of Hearing: 26 September 2018.

Date of Fixtures: 10 March 2018, 29 April 2018, 29 April 2018, 12 May 2018, 26 May 2018,
9 June 2018, 16 June 2018.

Reasons for Decision

Introduction

This matter was brought before the Tribunal because on the seven occasions listed above,
Tyler Curran played in the under 20s team for Murray United Football Club (MUFC). He did
so whilst registered for Twin City Wanderers SC. In order to play for MUFC, he was noted on
the playing sheet as Ben Hughes and Ryan Luty.

The fact of Mr Curran playing under the different names as set out above was not disputed
before us. Charges were brought against MUFC, Tyler Curran, and the official of MUFC said
to be responsible for this occurring, David Afonso. The charges against each of them were
pursuant to the MP10 of the GDP.

We were provided with submissions of the FFV of 30 pages. The FFV was legally
represented by Mr David Eldridge. MUFC was represented by Counsel, Mr Stephen Devlin.
Mr Devlin provided to us a letter dated 26 September 2018 from the Chairman of MUFC, Mr
Darren Yates.

In addition to the above, we heard evidence from Mr Tyler Curran, Mr David Afonso, and Mr
Darren Yates.

There was agreement between MUFC and the FFV that it was necessary for this matter to
be resolved in circumstances where:

1. there was a message of general deterrence to the football community in respect of

the identity of players and the registration process; and
 Page |2

2. proper regard was had to the objectives in the GDT, particularly rules 1.2(a) and (c).
Namely that that there was compliance with the laws of the game, and that
participation in the game of football, particularly in the Albury/Wodonga region was
encouraged.

The relevant rules

The charges in this proceeding are brought pursuant to MP10. That rule provides for other
misconduct which is defined as follows:

“bringing the game into disrepute

misconduct including, but not limited to, conduct that has brought,… FFV… into
disrepute …

• failure to cooperate with… a FFV investigation…”

Rule 7.8 of the GDT provides for penalties and sanctions that the Tribunal can impose. Rule
7.8 (f) provides as follows:

“in addition to any Recommended Penalty required under this By-Law, the Tribunal
may impose, … any one or more of the following…;

(iv) a monetary penalty upon a club only.

……….

(vii) deduction of championship points.

(ix) any such other sanctionable penalty if the Tribunal sees fit.”

Analysis

In our opinion, the positions taken by both the FFV and MUFC were stronger than what took
place.

The following is a critical events chronology arising from the documents provided to us:
 Page |3

1. On 30 July 2018 FFV advised MUFC that they were aware that Tyler Curran had
played whilst not registered for the club. It is to be noted that FFC did not specify
which game or games he had played.

2. By email sent on 2 August 2018 MUFC said that Tyler Curran had played one game
only. This email signalled what was to be one of the root causes of the problem.
MUFC was waiting on Ashley Dunn obtaining permanent residency status. Then, it
would appear Tyler Curran could be one of the two permitted temporary resident
players.

3. By telephone call on 2 August 2018, Pedro Afonso, the brother of David Afonso said
to an official of the FFV that Tyler Curran had only played whilst unregistered once.

4. After 2 August 2018 the FFV continued its investigations.

5. On 28 August 2018 Pedro Afonso spoke to and then sent two text messages to the
Executive General Manager of the FFV, George Angelopoulos. The reason for this
communication was that the FFV had been trying to contact the two players under
whose name Tyler Curran had played, namely Ryan Luty and Ben Hughes. The
substance of the communication from Mr Afonso was an attempt by him to stop the
investigation.

6. By letter dated 29 August 2018 the FFV presented evidence to MUFC of four
instances where Tyler Curran had played whilst unregistered.

7. By letter dated 30 August 2018 MUFC admitted the matters set out in the FFV letter
of 29 August 2018. It said that the actions had taken place without the involvement
of Board of MUFC. The letter said that what occurred was solely due to David
Afonso, and he had been stood down from all positions and MUFC had resolved
that he not take any position of responsibility in the club for 12 months.

8. On 4 September 2018 the FFV sent an email to MUFC asking for it to provide the
mobile telephone number of Ben Hughes.

9. By email dated 5 September 2018 MUFC disclosed three further matches in which
Tyler Curran had played whilst unregistered.
 Page |4

For the benefit of the FFV community, if MUFC had admitted to the wrongdoing in early
August 2018, and not caused a month-long investigation then not only would the positions
taken by both FFV and MUFC have been less emotive, the penalty imposed upon MUFC
would have been less severe.

Mr Curran said he had arrived from the United Kingdom on 13 October 2017. He went
straight to the Albury Wodonga region. In order to fit into the community, as he had done in
the UK, he played for two football clubs in different competitions. He utilised the club
environment to make new friends. It would appear the two clubs were welcoming of him and
he met others in the community and to that extent both clubs have performed a role in the
community, which is to be encouraged. We formed the view that Mr Curran had no idea that
he could not play for two clubs. We formed the view that he had no knowing involvement in
misrepresenting his identity to the FFV.

Mr Afonso read a prepared statement to us. He was deeply apologetic and embarrassed for
what had occurred. He accepted full responsibility for what occurred. He said it was his
decision and nobody else was involved. He has been involved in the sport of football since
the age of eight. He and his brother are involved in sponsoring the MUFC and he and his
brother through their successful business in the Albury Wodonga region support a number of
other sporting teams and charities.

Together with others, Mr Afonso had established MUFC and established it as an NPL club.
He had coached the game of football since he was 18 years of age. He played seniors
football from the ages of 21 to 30.

Mr Afonso said that Mr Curran was played because MUFC was struggling in the competition
to obtain players. He said that it was also struggling to raise revenue to keep the club
running.

During his evidence, it appeared to us that Mr Mills, the under 20s coach was also aware of
what had occurred, but Mr Afonso had asserted authority over him. It appears that the root
cause of the problem was not just a lack of players, but also due to the fact that pursuant to
the NPL rules, only two players were permitted to play with temporary residential visas in
Australia. As is set out in the first explanation of MUFC, they were waiting upon Ashley Dunn
to obtain permanent residency. Then there would be another space for another temporary
resident, and that could have been Mr Curran.

MUFC contend that the events before us occurred because of a failure in its registration
process.
 Page |5

During evidence, we also explored some of the more stronger assertions by the FFV.
Probably due to the fact that its investigations were actively frustrated, FFV asserted that
many in the club must have known because they all travelled on the same bus. This was
ascertained to be incorrect. The bus leaves Wodonga early in the morning when the team is
playing away. The under 20s team plays first. Then the seniors team plays. Then the bus
departs. People who can drive tend to drive because they do not wish to have the entire day,
and a long day at that, on the bus. Many people are in the seniors’ team and people
associated with the team stay the night in Melbourne. It was therefore possible that, and
likely, that the team was not complicit with what had occurred.

The fact remains however that others other than Mr Afonso must have known. There is a list
of players available for registration provided to coaches. That list of players is prepared from
the club register. The coaches would have known that Mr Curran was not registered.

Mr Darren Yates is chairman of MUFC. He appeared to us to be an honest and credible

chairman who was disturbed by what had occurred. For reasons that were understandable,
he allowed the registration of players to be an operational issue and not a board issue. In
retrospect, he conceded that there should have been internal controls whereby the fact of a
player playing unregistered for seven separate occasions was difficult, if not impossible, to
achieve without the cooperation of a number of people. He said the club was embarrassed
and David Afonso had been terminated from his role with the club.

He said that the club did not have $20,000 to pay the fine proposed by the FFV. He said that
if it was required to pay a fine of that magnitude, then the club would probably be insolvent.
It was short of players and money and he encouraged us to have regard to its ongoing
viability in any penalties that we imposed.

The penalties as proposed by the FFV

The FFV proposed the following penalties:

1. David Afonso be suspended from any involvement in the game of football for a
period of 12 months.

2. The MFUC seniors club have seven points deducted from it in the relevant rounds
where Mr Curran played when unregistered.

3. That for the next two seasons MUFC be required to provide photographic evidence
of every player in the U20 and Senior Men’s Fixture.
 Page |6

4. That there be a fine imposed on MUFC of $10,000 for the first charge of bringing the
game into disrepute, and then a further $10,000 for the second charge of impeding
the investigation.

The objective of deterrence

The fact in this matter is that the FFV cannot monitor and control all of the activities of the
clubs in its competitions. It relies upon the integrity of the clubs to comply with the rules and
in the event that they do not, to selflessly self-report their problems upon the first being
identified.

As set out above, on any version of events, MUFC could have moved more quickly and in a
more transparent manner early in the month of August. On any version of events, MUFC
could have and should have had internal controls that did not permit to occur what occurred.

In defence of MUFC, the Afonso brothers were significant sponsors of MUFC and so
presumably asserted considerable power over volunteer officials. For that reason, they were
not inclined to question what was imposed upon them. The two text messages sent by David
Afonso’s brother Pedro, on 28 August 2018 make it clear that he must have known what had
occurred and he took a role of discouraging the FFV from any further investigation. Those
two text messages were inflammatory in nature, particularly in the context of the fact that at
the time they were sent, only one of the seven events of playing an unregistered player had
been identified. The following day, FFV brought three more events to the notice of MUFC,
and then within a week, MUFC disclosed a further three events.

Penalties to be imposed

Having regard to the above, we impose the following penalties:

1. David Alfonso be suspended from the game of football within the meaning of clause
6.1 of the GDT for a period of 18 months.

2. MUFC be fined the sum of $30,000. Of that sum, $25,000 will be suspended and
only the sum of $5,000 payable. The sum of $25,000 suspended, will be suspended
for a period of three years. If MUFC plays any unregistered player in any
competition between the date of this decision and 31 December 2021 then by this
decision, the sum of $25,000 shall, assuming another Tribunal finds that it has
occurred, be payable by MUFC to FFV.
 Page |7

3. Both the under 20s and senior MUFC teams shall receive a deduction of three
points for the season commencing after 1 January 2019. They will start the season
at minus 3.

4. Tyler Curran be suspended from playing football for three games and must obtain
an International Transfer Clearance (ITC) before the end of the 2018 calendar year.

Explanation as to penalty

David Afonso

In our opinion, the penalty imposed upon David Afonso must take into account his deeply
apologetic and embarrassed response provided to us. He plainly feels accountable in respect
of what has occurred. But the fact is, he “lent upon” Mr Mills. Furthermore, there can be no
doubt that the hearing before us and the emotion that had to be diffused by us did arise from
the fact that MUFC did not disclose what occurred as soon as possible. The involvement of
David's brother, Pedro evidenced that there was a degree of force and authority being
exercised behind the scenes thereby precluding the FFV from finding out what had occurred.
We do not accept that what Pedro did was independent of David.

MUFC

The FFV expressed to us that they did not wish to see MUFC be relegated or suffer a
financial penalty that could lead to it not being a going concern. We have had regard to both
those matters and the evidence that we heard. The purpose of the lower fine is to ensure that
MUFC is a going concern. The purpose of the large suspended fine is to be a serious threat
to MUFC and cause it to take very seriously the accountability that is necessary in respect of
identity. If MUFC were to do the same thing again in the next three years, then the
suspended penalty will probably mean that MUFC will cease to exist. In our opinion, that is
the suitable penalty to ensure that there is compliant behaviour in the future. In our opinion,
it is a matter for MUFC as to how it chooses to comply with the rules. Internally it may wish
to have regard to the FFV requirement of photographic identification, but we see no reason
to require others to check up on them. The FFV must rely upon their integrity and we have
stated the penalty that will be imposed if they do not comply.

The points deduction for next season was opposed by the representatives of both the FFV
and MUFC. A question was raised by both as to our power to impose such a penalty. In our
opinion our power arises from rules 7.8 (f) (vii) and (ix). In our opinion, the point deductions
are necessary from the point of view of general deterrence. The fact that MUFC seniors and
 Page |8

the under 20 team start next season at minus 3 will be a good “conversation starter” amongst
the FFV community. All teams have one thing in common; they want to compete, and they
want to win. All teams need to understand that if they do not comply with the rules, and
critical rules in respect of identity, then they can expect to become less competitive.
Consequently, they should generate the compliant lawful behaviour and the controls that are
required for the competition to succeed and prosper.

Tyler Curran

As discussed, we found Mr Curran to be honest and believable. He only recently arrived in

the country. He had no reason to believe that what he was doing was unlawful because he
played for two clubs in two competitions in the United Kingdom. He is the innocent person in
all of this. But the fact remains that players, like officials, must be mindful of the rules and
take reasonable precautions to find out what they are and whether they are compliant. The
FFV suggested that Mr Curran be suspended for seven games, being the number of games
he played when unregistered. That is a suitable starting point. Having regard to his evidence,
we have elected to reduce that penalty to three games only.

1 October 2018

Andrew Stops, Chair

Melissa Gesovski

Steven Black