Echuca won the opening-round match by 54 points, but an administrative error — which the club self-reported — meant it had breached league rules.
It won the reserve-grade match by 117 points, but has had both wins taken away as a result of the clerical mistake.
It was not a perfect lead-up to the match with Euroa on Saturday, but had no impact as the Murray Bombers easily beat the fellow premiership contender by 43 points at Victoria Park.
A ruling was made by AFL Victoria, in conjuncton with the Goulburn Valley Football Netball League board, at lunchtime on Friday to fine the club $1000 ($500 for each breach of the rules) and take away its premiership points from the two matches.
A new registration and game-day system, PlayHQ, has been cited by the club as part of the reason for the error. The club did not deny the players were not transferred/cleared.
The club is one of many struggling to come to terms with the new process and has indicated it will be appealing the decision.
Limited training for volunteer club administrators has caused problems with results, registration and insuring of players.
The functionality of the system meant the club was unaware of the error until after the event.
The PlayHQ system has been described as “labour intensive” with several teething problems.
