A Disciplinary Panel of the Football Association of Wales recently met to deliberate over multiple charges issued to Bangor City Football Club for the alleged breach of FAW Rules.

Bangor City Football Club were charged with the following Disciplinary Offences:

The Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.1 for the alleged breach of Article 12bis of FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, in that the Club have allegedly failed to comply with their financial obligations towards 6 (six) of their current and/or former Professional Players as per the terms stipulated within each Player’s respective Employment Contracts with the Club.

The Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.1 for the alleged breach of FAW Rule 67 in that the Club allegedly entered into an Employment Contract with ‘Player A’ in or around November 2018 and in not submitting a copy of the Employment Contract to the Association, the application for registration did not follow the procedures set by the Association for Professional Players.

The Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.1 for the alleged breach of FAW Rule 61 in that the Club allegedly entered into an Employment Contract with ‘Player A’ in or around November 2018, contrary to the provisions of the Professional Registration Periods as set by the Association. The applicable Professional Registration Period closed on 31 August 2018 and did not reopen until 1 January 2019.

The Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.1 for the alleged breach of Clause 4 of the FAW Regulations for the Registration of Players, in that the Club allegedly entered into an Employment Contract with ‘Player A’ in or around November 2018 which, in addition to the J5 Professional Registration Form was not submitted to the Association within 5 (five) Business Days of the date of the Player’s signature.

The Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.1 for the alleged breach of FAW Rule 67 in that the Club has allegedly entered into an Employment Contract with ‘Player A’ on or around 1 January 2019 and in not submitting a copy of the Employment Contract to the Association, the application for registration did not follow the procedures set by the Association for Professional Players.

The Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.1 for the alleged breach of Clause 4 of the FAW Regulations for the Registration of Players, in that the Club allegedly entered into an Employment Contract with ‘Player A' on or around 1 January 2019 which, in addition to the required J5 Professional Registration Form, was not submitted to the Association within 5 (five) Business Days of the date of the Player’s signature.

The Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.2 for the alleged breach of Huws Gray Alliance League Rule 7, in that the Club allegedly player ‘Player A’ in 11 (eleven) Official Matches between November 2018 and March 2019 whilst being ineligible.

The Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.1 for the alleged breach of FAW Rule 67 in that the Club has allegedly entered into an Employment Contract with ‘Player B’ in or around September 2018 and in not submitting a copy of the Employment Contract to the Association, the application for registration did not follow the procedures set by Association for Professional Players.

The Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.1 for the alleged breach of FAW Rule 61 in that the Club allegedly entered into an Employment Contract with ‘Player B’ in or around September 2018, contrary to the provisions of the Professional Registration Periods as set by the Association. The applicable Professional Registration Period closed on 31 August 2018 and did not reopen until 1 January 2019.

The Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.1 for the alleged breach of Clause 4 of the FAW Regulations for the Registration of Players, in that the Club allegedly entered into an Employment Contract with ‘Player B’ in or around September 2018 which, in addition to the required J5 Professional Registration Form, was not submitted to the Association within 5 (five) Business Days of the date of the Player’s signature.

The Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.1 for the alleged breach of Article 1, Paragraph 5 of Annexe 3 of FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (FIFA RSTP) in that the Club did not use the FIFA Transfer Matching System (FIFA TMS) to obtain the International Transfer Certificate for ‘Player B’. Article 1, Paragraph 5 of Annexe 3 of FIFA RSTP states the following: “the use of FIFA TMS is a mandatory step for all international transfers of professional male and female players within the scope of eleven a said football, and any registration of such a player without the use of FIFA TMS will be deemed invalid.”

The Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.12 for the alleged breach of Huws Gray Alliance League Rule 7, in that the Club allegedly played ‘Player B’ in 11 Official Matches between October 2018 and March 2019 whilst ineligible.

After carefully considering the written and verbal evidence submitted, the Disciplinary Panel decided that all listed charges above against Bangor City Football Club be proven. The Panel fined the Club in accordance with their Rule breaches and the guidelines set out in the Disciplinary Procedures and Huws Gray Alliance League Rules.

The Panel decided that Bangor City should have a transfer embargo placed upon them and be suspended from registering any Professional Players with immediate effect up to and including 31 December 2019. For the avoidance of doubt, the Panel confirmed that this would not impact any player currently holding a valid professional contract or prevent Bangor City Football Club from registering any Amateur Players during this period. However, the renewal of a professional contract would not be permitted during this period.

The Panel noted that the Huws Gray Alliance League Rule 7 states that any “club to have played an ineligible player in a league fixture will be dealt with by the management committee. If found guilty they will be deducted three points per game and fined a maximum of two hundred pounds per instance.”

As Bangor City had played ‘Player A’ in 11 (eleven) matches, the Panel decided that Bangor City Football Club should have 33 (thirty-three) points deducted from their Huws Gray Alliance League record for the 2018/2019 season.

The Panel noted that ‘Player B’ had participated in 11 (eleven) matches, 8 (eight) of which were the same matches as ‘Player A’. The Panel felt that the punishment of a three-point deduction per match for the eight matches that both ‘Player A’ and ‘Player B’ has participated in was sufficient. However, the Panel determined that with the three remaining matches that ‘Player B’ had participated in between October 2018 and December 2019, which ‘Player A’ did not participate in, there should be a 3-point deduction per offence. Hence, the Panel decided that Bangor City should have an additional 9 (nine) points deducted from their Huws Gray Alliance League record for the 2018/2019 season.

Therefore, the Panel decided that a total of 42 points are to be deducted from Bangor City’s Huws Gray Alliance League record for the 2018/2019 season.

In addition to the above, the following charges were found Not Proven by the Disciplinary Panel and no further action is to be taken:

The charge against Bangor City Football Club with the Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.1 for the alleged breach of FAW Rule 67, in that the Club on or around 30 January 2019 allegedly entered into a new Employment Contract with ‘Player C’, which has not been submitted to the Association pursuant to the Player Registration procedures set by the Association for Professional Players.

The charge against Bangor City Football Club with the Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.1 for the alleged breach of Clause 4 of the FAW Regulations for the Registration of Players, in that the Club allegedly entered into a new Employment Contract with ‘Player C’ on or around 30 January 2019 which, in addition to the required J5 Professional Registration Form, was not submitted to the Association within 5 (five) Business Days of the date of the Player’s signature.

The charge against Bangor City Football Club with the Disciplinary Offence as set out under FAW Rule 38.1.2 for the alleged breach of Huws Gray Alliance League Rule 7, in that the Club allegedly played ‘Player C’ in 4 (four) Official Matches between February 2019 and March 2019 whilst ineligible.

Bangor City Football Club have until the close of business on Wednesday, 29 May 2019 to lodge an appeal against any of the decisions made by the Disciplinary Panel, as set out under FAW Rules 43.2.3 and 44.1.3.