Legal action against league for being left out of 1st XI

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mayhem20202

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Legal action against league for being left out of 1st XI

Hi all Geelong locals,

In my league, SMCA, it is looking likely that a side is going to be left out of the 1st XI competition, and they have said that if they are, they are going to be pursuing legal action against the league. I said, that this seemed like a drastic measure to take, and also unlikely to succeed and they said that there was a previous precedence set in Geelong.

As to where, when, or by which club, there were no specifics given. Can anyone tell me whether or not this ever happened, and if so, give me any details which are known, and also point me to any articles on the incident.

Sorry for invading your board, although, hopefully someone can assist.
 
Re: Legal action against league for being left out of 1st XI

There have been a few incidents over the last fews years with sides threatening legal action over being dropped to Division 2, but nothing ever came of them. Bell Post Hill and Manifold Heights are the clubs who I can remember, but I think you'll be struggling to find any specific details on either incident.

There may have been precedent in the past, but certainly not in the last 10 years, and I'm sure any league would have a clause in their constitution giving them the right to do whatever they please in regards to dropping sides.
 
Re: Legal action against league for being left out of 1st XI

a for effort;361602 said:
There may have been precedent in the past, but certainly not in the last 10 years, and I'm sure any league would have a clause in their constitution giving them the right to do whatever they please in regards to dropping sides.
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Exactly the answer that I was expecting to get. Thanks for taking the time to answer. Surely a league has the power to grade clubs as they see fit depending upon performance and structure of the club.

If anyone else has anything to add, I would appreciate it.
 
Re: Legal action against league for being left out of 1st XI

a for effort;361602 said:
There have been a few incidents over the last fews years with sides threatening legal action over being dropped to Division 2, but nothing ever came of them. Bell Post Hill and Manifold Heights are the clubs who I can remember, but I think you'll be struggling to find any specific details on either incident.

There may have been precedent in the past, but certainly not in the last 10 years, and I'm sure any league would have a clause in their constitution giving them the right to do whatever they please in regards to dropping sides.
Click to expand...

im pretty sure thomson took the gca to court and won maybe 15 years ago, i think the gca changed its constitution after this so no club could take them to court and win.
 
Re: Legal action against league for being left out of 1st XI

Before the 1990-91 season, the GCA moved to go from 1 x 12 sides to 2 x 8 sides. Highton, North Shore, St Mary's, Guild and Marshall were promoted from and Thomson were relegated to the GDCA. Thomson took the GCA to court and the Victorian Supreme Court ruled the GCA could grade Thomson (or any affiliated club) wherever they liked, but provided it was within the GCA structure. They couldn't effectively expel them from the comp. Therefore Thomson had to be graded in the then-new GCA2. The GCA then tried to create 2 new comps on the eve of the season (consisting of the other 16 clubs without Thomson), Thomson applied for a court injunction and won and the GCA second division eventually went ahead with 9 clubs and a Sunday game each week (which was a real winner.....not).

It all cost about $40,000 in legal fees which was a massive amount of coin for those days. It pretty much cleaned out the GCA coffers.

The GCA did then amend their rules to formalise their affiliation procedures. The Bell Post Hill and Leopold ruckus about 6 or 7 years ago was much ado over nothing - I think Rawlo was egging on the 2 clubs on as a means of taking on Peter Fisher who was GCA President at the time, but, vintage Rawlo, it was never likely to have any success and no support for any court move ever materialised.

The bloke who could tell you a lot more is Michael Vines, who still goes around in South Barwon's 6ths. He was Thomson's solicitor and loved taking on the GCA about anything.
 
Re: Legal action against league for being left out of 1st XI

Look here;361655 said:
Before the 1990-91 season, the GCA moved to go from 1 x 12 sides to 2 x 8 sides. Highton, North Shore, St Mary's, Guild and Marshall were promoted from and Thomson were relegated to the GDCA. Thomson took the GCA to court and the Victorian Supreme Court ruled the GCA could grade Thomson (or any affiliated club) wherever they liked, but provided it was within the GCA structure. They couldn't effectively expel them from the comp. Therefore Thomson had to be graded in the then-new GCA2. The GCA then tried to create 2 new comps on the eve of the season (consisting of the other 16 clubs without Thomson), Thomson applied for a court injunction and won and the GCA second division eventually went ahead with 9 clubs and a Sunday game each week (which was a real winner.....not).

It all cost about $40,000 in legal fees which was a massive amount of coin for those days. It pretty much cleaned out the GCA coffers.

The GCA did then amend their rules to formalise their affiliation procedures. The Bell Post Hill and Leopold ruckus about 6 or 7 years ago was much ado over nothing - I think Rawlo was egging on the 2 clubs on as a means of taking on Peter Fisher who was GCA President at the time, but, vintage Rawlo, it was never likely to have any success and no support for any court move ever materialised.

The bloke who could tell you a lot more is Michael Vines, who still goes around in South Barwon's 6ths. He was Thomson's solicitor and loved taking on the GCA about anything.
Click to expand...

In the South Barwon 7th's, actually :)
 
Re: Legal action against league for being left out of 1st XI

in regards to the BPH and Leopold vs the GCA, im pretty sure but please feel free to correct me if i am wrong anyone, the VCCL was asked to sort the GCA problem out. The VCCL then followed the constitution and found that although the GCA had changed some of its rules to obviously suit itself, they had not actually broken any rules. it was left there coz everybody involved knew it was a waste of time proceeding with any further action.

Therefore my suggestion to any clubs in SMCA would be to go through the SMCA constitution with a fine tooth comb and see if they are breaking any rules, if they are not then unfortunately you are wasting your time, coz every governing body cricket or legal will get back to whats in writing.
 
Re: Legal action against league for being left out of 1st XI

"The Bell Post Hill and Leopold ruckus about 6 or 7 years ago was much ado over nothing"

Much ado over nothing......only demoted the back to back div 1 premiers!!!

Ok the lower grades werent strong,but from memory a struggling sth barwon or highton stayed up at our expense ( apologies if i have quoted the wrong club). And out of curiosity is the same criteria for promotion/relegation still in place??
 
Re: Legal action against league for being left out of 1st XI

"Much ado over nothing" wasn't a comment on the correctness of the decision (although I personally believe there should be more to promotion/relegation than just being 1st XI premiers). It was about all the carry-on and agitation about possible legal action which was never going to happen. The Thomson court case years earlier had established the GCA could grade clubs wherever they chose, and everyone involved knew that.

At the time, I half-expected the BPH/Leopold saga would make it to A Current Affair or Today Tonight (or whatever was on then). It's the sort of stuff they thrive on!

Yes the points system that saw BPH & Leopold relegated is still in place, although the exact points allocation for certain areas has been tweaked a little since then.
 
Re: Legal action against league for being left out of 1st XI

bphpanther;362249 said:
"The Bell Post Hill and Leopold ruckus about 6 or 7 years ago was much ado over nothing"

Much ado over nothing......only demoted the back to back div 1 premiers!!!

Ok the lower grades werent strong,but from memory a struggling sth barwon or highton stayed up at our expense ( apologies if i have quoted the wrong club). And out of curiosity is the same criteria for promotion/relegation still in place??
Click to expand...

am pretty sure it was not South Barwon that stayed up because Bell Post got dropped out, although South were not travelling as well as we have been over the last few years.
 
Re: Legal action against league for being left out of 1st XI

it was highton that stayed up when they had not won a game in 1st grade for 2 years and all seniors grades were being smahed most weeks, but the GCA decided they had the best junior program around and awesome facilities on the way, which was all true. But it was just fisher, dew and the gang getting back at BPH for dominating 1st grade and money rumours that were never proven. screwed geelong cricket over few years to come, see ya started me up again now:mad:
 
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