REIGNING Sunraysia Football Netball League premiers Ouyen United have been cleared of any salary cap breaches, ending months of speculation.
Club officials received written confirmation this week from the AFL Sunraysia Commission confirming they had operated within their player payment threshold during the 2018 season.
AFL Sunraysia chair Trevor Heaft said the investigation had taken extra time to finish given the additional investigation required by the nature of travel arrangements of several players.
“Our responsibility as the body in control of the policy was to determine the exact nature of the player payments and how travel expenses were paid and by whom,” Mr Heaft said.
“We needed to leave no stone unturned for the credibility of the policy and the integrity of the Ouyen United FNC.”
Players were required to show evidence to verify travel arrangements and flight bookings, which were crossed matched to individual player bank statements and credit card statements.
Statutory declarations by these players were also provided to support the validity of their player declarations and provided evidence.
In a press release, the commission said Ouyen United, similar to the other three audited clubs, did have administration compliance breaches under the policy requirements which will attract a $1000 penalty per breach, suspended until the end of 2020.
Full coverage in Friday’s Sunraysia Daily.
