The three Northern representatives in Saturday’s Lakoseljac Cup semi-finals staged an 11th -hour protest against their controversial match scheduling.
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Launceston City, Northern Rangers and Devonport may have been fighting each other to reach the cup final but were united in persistent protests against their treatment by the state’s ruling body.
It has emerged that the three club figureheads wrote a joint letter to Football Federation Tasmanian expressing their “extreme disappointment” at how the matter had been handled and making a last-ditch bid for assistance in staging what should have been a celebratory day for soccer in the North.
Sent to the FFT board on Thursday, the letter questioned why initially-agreed kick-off times were reversed and subsequently switched again, creating a situation which led to Rangers and City respectively forfeiting an under-20 cup semi-final and a championship fixture.
“The changing of these agreed times and then a further change again has caused no end of work and frustration for our tireless volunteers and frustration for all followers of our game,” the letter said.
“This change from agreed times is insulting to the northern clubs because we are told when and where we are to play in Hobart. The normal process is that home teams have a right to promote each game for the benefit of the sport.
“We believe that the original roster above achieved this goal, which is why we agreed to this proposal from FFT.”
Sent by presidents Rod Andrews (Devonport) and Rod Fulton (Rangers) and City chairman Andrew Heap, the letter said the opportunity to showcase and promote soccer in the North had been lost.
“The northern teams have travelled south for many years in the interests of promoting the game. Our clubs are always open to considering changes for the benefit of the game in Tasmania.
“However, there needs to be a balance.”
The letter stated that only last season, City travelled to Glenorchy to play their cup semi-final at 4pm.
The clubs said their plea to revert the kick-off times to their originally-suggested schedule fell on deaf ears.
Although apologetic for the handling of the situation, FFT insisted that the games proceed at 1pm and 3pm on Saturday. They did, with Devonport beating Rangers 2-1 before South Hobart won 3-1 to knock out City.
The clubs believed the original start times of 1.30pm and 5pm allowed for supporters to watch both and for them to be streamed live sequentially while also catering for the possibility of extra-time and penalties.
They were also critical of being required to field teams in the regional Championship while the corresponding Challenge League in Hobart had a bye.
“We do not have a statewide level playing field in terms of supporters and player availability,” the clubs said.
“This is not a professional approach for our game.”