Justaplayer

In an earlier post when everyone was slating Harestanes I gave them the benefit of the doubt as I didn't know the facts and didn't know if they had raised a concern about the lack of corner flags prior to the game starting. They have now released a statement and that appears not to have been the case. Everyone is in agreement that Laurieston breached rule 13 by not providing corner flags. It is now evident that Harestanes breached rule 15, which states "protests relative to grounds, goalposts or other appurtenances, and violation of rule, must be intimated to the referee and to the captain of the opposing team at the time the infringement took place." - the infringement took place when the game was about to kick-off without corner flags. If Harestanes felt that rule 13 had been breached and if they thought having no corner flags would impact the game in any way, they should've protested there and then. The fact they didn't, suggests they weren't bothered about corner flags at that time and were happy to play without them. I can understand why some people in this forum are, therefore having a go at them and saying they brought up the issue during the game as an insurance policy as perhaps the game wasn't going to plan. Who knows? What I will say is, I know there have been some games played in this competition without corner flags and the losing teams did not appeal. I can understand people's reaction to Harestanes lodging an appeal for something as trivial as corner flags after losing the game. I don't think they have covered themselves in glory by doing so. Had they brought up the flag issue before the game started I don't think they would've been given so much stick. Personally, at the end of the day, I think corner flags would have had no bearing on how the game panned out or the overall result, regardless of what rules were broken or how many times Harestanes raised the issue during the game. Harestanes statement seems to be an attempt to save face after the whole debacle, but it could be interpreted in different ways by the people on this forum, for example "We made both referee and the home team aware of this breach but neither deemed it appropriate to rectify the issue. Importantly we alerted both at 0 - 0, therefore not seeking to gain advantage." - it is unclear how far into the game this happened, but the cynical could read this as " game isn't going well, it's not as easy as we thought it was going to be, we are in danger of losing the game, let's play the "get out of jail free" card and mention the corner flags so if the worst comes to the worst and we lose, we can appeal. "Neither deemed it appropriate to rectify the issue." Let's be honest, the addition of corner flags during the game would've made no difference to the outcome of the game or the result. In fact, from what I'm told, given the conditions on the day, corner flags would've been flat on the ground anyway. "We are withdrawing our appeal and are moving forward with the rest of our season. Without prejudice, if SAFA and relevant committee wish to pursue the matter on the back of the referees report, then that is without an appeal from Harestanes AFC." - this could be interpreted as "we've appealed and brought it to SAFA's attention, they'll have to investigate and we'll probably get the replay we want, so let's withdraw our appeal and look like the innocent party." A clever ploy, but it looks like Harestanes reputation has already been damaged. "We are a club who always strive to conduct ourselves in the correct manner on and off the pitch and have maintained this throughout our close to 40 year history." - some would say if this is true, should Harestanes have appealed in the first place or should they have gracefully accepted defeat and moved on? If SAFA decide there should be a replay, could they honestly say they've conducted themselves in the correct manner? "We are withdrawing our appeal and are moving forward with the rest of our season". - If SAFA decide on a replay will Harestanes forfeit the tie? In the true spirit of the game, I believe that would be the correct thing for them to do, as in my opinion, Laurieston won the game and should progress to the next round.

Agreed. Regardless of whether the referee knew about rule 15 or not, it is Harestane's responsibility to ensure the rule is followed.

If Harestanes didn't follow rule 15, their appeal should be thrown out

Social media is in meltdown over the Harestanes appeal. I thought I would share my view. For me, the decision on the appeal should be based on whether or not a couple of rules were followed. 1. "Goal Nets and Corner Flags must be used in all matches." - Laurie clearly didn't follow this rule, of that there is no doubt. 2. "Protests relative to ground, goalposts or other appurtenances, and violation of rule, must be intimated to the referee and to the captain of the opposing team at the time the infringement takes place with such protest being made in writing on the reverse side of the team lines, witnessed and signed by both team captains." - Did Harestanes follow this rule? In my opinion, if Harestanes protested about the lack of corner flags to the referee and the opposing team prior to kick-off, then the safa committee should order a replay. However, if Harestanes did not protest the lack of corner flags before the game, then both teams have not followed the rules and the committee should reject the appeal. Harestanes have been getting a lot of stick since they appealed, but to be fair to them, if they did officially protest before the game started, they are within their rights to appeal, although I am sure most other amateur teams would not appeal on the grounds of missing corner flags. If Harestanes did not complain before the game was underway, then, in my opinion, they were happy to play without corner flags. If the result had gone their way, there would have been no mention of the lack of corner flags afterwards. However, when they unexpectedly lost, they decided to appeal. To me, it is a desperate attempt to stay in the competition and is quite frankly pathetic and embarrassing! In my opinion, the lack of corner flags had no bearing on the game or the result. Harestanes lost the game fair and square and they should have taken it on the chin, congratulated Laurie and moved on, but they decided to appeal and are now a laughingstock. Harestanes have lost all respect in the world of amateur football and whilst the damage has already been done to a certain extent, they may gain some respect back if they do the honourable thing and withdraw their appeal and let Laurie, who deservedly won on the day, progress to the next round. Let sporting integrity prevail!!