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Do F All
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Parliament Speaks
by Hardy on 24/07/2002
Dagenham MP Jon Cruddas has raised the issue of the FA's decision on Bostongate in Parliament in an Early Day Motion asking the FA to explain it's thinking. |
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Bostongate raised in Parliament
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Dagenham MP Jon Cruddas has raised an Early Day Motion asking the for an
explanation of the FA's decision on the punishment for Boston United for their
"financial irregularities".
Early Day Motions are a way of raising issues that are deemed of interest to
individual members in Parliament and are often a way of highlighting a local
issue in the hope to get some action. One member will sponsor the motion and
others are asked to sign to show their support. To date 18 other MP's have
signed the motion entitled "FA Inquiry into the Conference league",
which is EDM
1672.
The wording of the motion has been published this morning and is as follows:
"That this House calls on the Chief Executive of the
Football Association to explain the inadequate verdict of the three man FA
hearing which allowed Boston United, Champions of the Nationwide Conference
League, to retain their promoted place in the Football League after pleading
guilty to six charges of contractual irregularities; notes that by breaking the
rules of the game, Boston United will now make a considerable financial gain by
playing Third Division football this coming season and that their fine of £100,000
pales into insignificance compared to the £500,000 which the club can expect to
receive as a member of the Football League; further notes that the FA deducted
four points off Boston for this season's Third Division campaign when the club
broke the rules during last season's Conference matches and that if the hearing
had deducted points from last season's totals then the Championship would have
been awarded to Dagenham and Redbridge FC who would have been promoted; believes
there to be growing concern within the game that this verdict has initiated a
cheats charter which could tempt other clubs into beaking the rules for self
gain and could therefore destroy public confidence in the way football conducts
itself; and urges the Chief Executive, who made it clear from the day that he
took office that he wished to clean up the game and would crack down hard on
clubs that broke the rules, to explain the hearing's decision, which contravenes
those sentiments and brings the sport into disrepute."
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Jon Cruddas
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Jon Cruddas was very vocal before the hearing and his interest in the matter was
reported in many newspapers. Many cynics, including me I have to admit, thought
that he may be bandwagon jumping with his interest in this matter, but we now
understand that he is a regular at Victoria Road.
Dave Simpson, the Daggers Press Officer said earlier this week "Mr
Cruddas is a football fan and more importantly a fan of his local team. He pays
like other supporters to watch games at Victoria Road and attended the majority
of them last season. He was also spotted at a couple of away games."
He went on to say "As a club we get on very well with our local MP and
Council and hold meetings with local residents twice a year. Such is our
involvement with the local community, we have won the Essex Business award for
Community work for the past two years."
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EDM 1628
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There was a further EDM raised on the issue, EDM
1628, which was raised by John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington on the
15th July, before the FA hearing. This is entitled "Rulebreaking in the
Conference League".
This reads "That this House calls
upon the Football Association to take decisive action against any club within
the Conference League found to have gained an unfair advantage over its rivals
by breaching the financial regulations governing the Conference League, and that
this action should include demotion from the Conference League."
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DiggerDagger's view
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Early Day Motions rarely have much more effect than
highlighting an issue but can occasionally result in action if support in
Parliament is overwhelming. One such piece of legislation was the implementation
of "Pet Passports".
While some observers,
particularly ones based in Lincolnshire will believe that this is a waste of
time, it does show some of the depth of feeling resulting from the FA's decision
last Friday. Once again the timing is against the Daggers in this one since Parliament has just broken up for its summer recess.
Thanks to Jon Cruddas for caring about a local issue sufficiently
to make himself heard.
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