KEY POINTS:
Protracted off-field wrangles in the battle between Auckland City and New Zealand Soccer threaten to scupper the New Zealand Football Championship play-off and grand final.
With the end of the regular season just five days away, there is the very real chance the play-off scheduled for March 17-18 and the final a week later will not go ahead.
City shocked NZS on Friday when they informed the national body they had sent their long-running dispute over the three championship points they were docked for playing a player deemed ineligible to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
It now appears the case will be heard by the court's Australian-based representative but it is highly unlikely a decision will be handed down by this Friday - the date by which NZS wanted the matter cleared up.
"At a meeting early last week we put forward a course of action we thought was appropriate and fair," said NZS chief executive Graham Seatter yesterday. "We gave them a couple of concessions and expected to hear back from them.
"We heard nothing until they informed us on Friday that they had gone to CAS."
While there is no provision in NZS rules for such appeals to go to CAS, Fifa and the Oceania Football Confederation do have such a concession in their rules. On that basis, City have gone to them.
Seatter is uncertain what will follow. "As I understand it, appellants can only go to CAS when all other avenues have been explored and exhausted. They might rule that is not the case."
The dispute arose when City played James Pritchett against Waitakere United in their 1-0 win on October 29 at Trusts Stadium.
NZS subsequently ruled against Pritchett who had been selected to tour Vietnam with New Zealand A but later withdrew through injury.
The case was later heard by the NZS independent appeals committee who upheld the national body's ruling.
Now, with those points vital, the case has been thrust back into the limelight and threatens to cast a pall over an entertaining season.
