A-League News: Perth Glory Face Fresh Salary Cap Breach Allegations
To be served third show cause notice by the FFA
Perth Glory’s troubles continue to mount, with the club set be served a third show cause notice by the Football Federation Australia, or FFA for exceeding the salary cap by a further $100,000. The new allegation, if found true, could see the club hit with punishments for next season as well.
Perth have already been found guilty of exceeding the salary cap by $400,000 this season with the cap at $2.55 million. They were charged with making payments to six players through third parties, covering accommodation and travel charges of players and agent fees, all without notifying the FFA. The breaches covered the past three seasons, right from 2012-2013 and leading into the current season.
The club were found to have breached the salary cap in 2012-13 by $26,000, in 2013-14 by $43,000 and by a massive $200,000 in 2014-15. The club have thus been handed a record fine of $269,000 by the FFA and also kicked out from playing in the A-League finals this season.
Perth had earlier rushed to file an injunction in the Supreme Court, challenging the FFA’ s authority to ban them from the finals, but then later decided to suspend it. They will now first try to prove their innocence at the league’s independent appeals committee before deciding whether to fight the matter in court.
Perth are currently in second place in the A-League table behind Melbourne victory. They will drop down to seventh place at the end of the regular season as part of the punishment. The FFA has also already confirmed that they will punish the players involved if they have been found to be colluding with the club in regards to the third party payments.
The $100,000 breach means that Perth will have spent $500,000 over the cap limit, amounting to 20% of the legal cap of $2.55 million. The FFA confirmed on its website that its independent disciplinary committee has heard Perth Glory’s appeal and a decision might be expected later today.
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