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Phoenix Coventry euphoria dashed.

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The E.I.H.A. and the English Premier League have suspended the J Davidson Manchester Phoenix from the EPL Play Off Finals in Coventry due to “...fielding an ineligible player  during the 2012/13 season.”

Andrew Jaszczyk, who came in as injury cover for the injured Steve Fone, is the player in question. According to the EPL & E.I.H.A. the paper work for Andrew to play for the Phoenix was incomplete and breached E.I.H.A. rules, specifically below:

“Except where allowed under these regulations, any club which uses a player or official for whom a registration is not held, or for whom registration and insurance fees have not been paid, shall be deemed in breach of these regulations and subject to any action as may be decided by the relevant League Management Committee.

“A player who “guests” for another club may only do so in tournaments and challenge games, and must supply a letter of authorisation from his club to the relevant League Management Committee, which must be attached to the score sheet. Any such player must be registered and insured.”

“This is ridiculous. We submitted the relevant paperwork to the E.I.H.A. before Andrew came across and there seemed to be no problems at the time, so we assumed everything had gone through. Now after all the hard work put in to securing Andrews services, we are now informed that he was ineligible. This is scandalous and we are appealing.” said a furious Neil Morris “The guys are gutted and the fans will be devastated, we take a huge following to Coventry and this happens now. It’s a disgrace.”

“It’s unbelievable, the boys have worked hard all year, especially recently with the injuries and to get through and to find out that we are being punished for something that isn’t our fault is hard to take. We submitted everything and checked all the paperwork was correct, as we do with any player and after several weeks they now find a problem, it beggars belief.” Said a stunned Tony Hand.

Apparently the problem has arisen with authorisation from Andrews’s previous club, who hold his registration, and it not arriving with the paperwork from the Phoenix. It is the responsibility of the club to provide all relevant paperwork to complete a registration.

This was taken from the email sent to the Phoenix by the EIHA early Monday morning confirming a phone call made to Neil Morris at home.

“Although this is a bitter blow for Manchester, the rules are clear that the responsibility to submit all the relevant documentation lies with the club requesting the player. Unfortunately this was not the case with Manchester and this has resulted in their suspension from the Play Off finals. It is regrettable, but the rules are in place to prevent any team from gaining an unfair advantage and cheating other teams. We had no choice but to issue this punishment.

“We understand this will be unpopular with the Manchester fans, but this is to protect the integrity of the game and as such there was no other choice. This will show other clubs that we will not tolerate clubs breaching the rules.”

On speaking to Neil Morris, he insisted he would be appealing this decision and the club will update as and when they get any news, hopefully in the next day or two.

Regardless of the decision, Manchester Phoenix fans will, as always, turn up in their numbers and will help to create a great atmosphere at the Skydome.

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