KEY POINTS:
The grand finale of the domestic season has been shelved as off-field squabbling continues to disrupt the New Zealand Football Championship.
In a brief statement yesterday, New Zealand Soccer confirmed that the NZFC play-off and final had been postponed indefinitely.
With the stakes so high - a place in the Oceania Champions League and beyond that possibly Fifa's World Club Cup - NZ Soccer says the decision is "obviously regrettable".
The decision has far-reaching implications and should never have been allowed to come to this.
The wrangle began when, on October 29 in a round-four match at Trusts Stadium, Auckland City played James Pritchett in their 1-0 win over Waitakere United.
Within a day or two NZ Soccer ruled Pritchett was ineligible as he had withdrawn from the New Zealand A team for a tournament in Vietnam but, after recovering from his injury, played in the NZFC match.
City were docked the three points which were awarded to Waitakere who went on to head the NZFC points table thus, last Sunday, earning the right to direct entry to both the O-League and the NZFC final as hosts.
Unhappy with the original decision, City appealed. NZ Soccer's independent appeals committee turned the appeal down.
Still miffed, and apparently claiming the appeal was not heard under the correct rule or regulation, City took the matter to the Council for Arbitration in Sport in Switzerland and have now gone back to NZ Soccer requesting a rehearing under what they claim is a different rule.
Yesterday's NZ Soccer statement does not say if the appeals committee has agreed to rehear the case but, given the time constraints, has forced the national body to can the scheduled preliminary final between YoungHeart Manawatu and Auckland City in Palmerston North on Sunday and the scheduled (and televised) final on March 24.
The matter is further complicated in that Waitakere are scheduled to play New Caledonia's AS Mont Dore in their O-League fixture in Noumea on March 31 and City at Kiwitea St four days later in the final round-robin match of that competition.
