Hereford & Torquay: Inconsistent Punishments for an Identical Crime

On the first of February, Hereford United defeated Torquay United 3-1 at Plainmoor. A routine midweek fixture, it seems, but one with consequences that are now reverberating through the closing stages of the season. Both clubs fielded players who, it transpired, were ineligible. Both have been punished. Yet the punishments are far from equal.

Jake Robinson, on loan from Shrewsbury Town, made his debut for Torquay that night. Rob Purdie, newly signed from Oldham Athletic, turned out for Hereford. Both players had been registered after the midday deadline on the final day of the transfer window, rendering them ineligible for the midweek round of matches. For this administrative error, Hereford have been stripped of the three points they won on the night. This, at least, has precedent. Torquay, however, have been deducted one point despite having lost the game in the first place.

A History of Precedent

Points deductions for on-field transgressions are rare. The most famous example remains the punishment handed out to Arsenal and Manchester United for a brawl in 1990. Since then, such deductions have almost exclusively concerned player eligibility. Hartlepool United lost three points last season for playing the suspended Gary Liddell in a 2-0 win against Brighton. Crystal Palace forfeited a point gained against Sheffield United after Rui Fonte played despite his loan having expired. In these cases, the logic is clear: a team cannot be allowed to benefit from fielding a player who should not have been on the pitch.

This is why Hereford United’s sanction, while painful, is consistent. The club has little cause for complaint beyond its own administrative failings. Yet the Torquay punishment defies belief. For losing a match with an ineligible player, they have effectively been handed a negative points total for a single fixture, the first time this has happened in Football League history. It is a decision that implies their offence was somehow worse than any other of its kind, when a fine would typically be the expected sanction for a losing team. Both clubs have been docked £25,000.

An Unequal Application

Even Hereford chairman David Keyte has questioned the logic applied to Torquay. “I know there is a precedent set by losing the points you have gained for playing an ineligible player,” he stated, “but it has been confused by Torquay having a point deducted.” This inconsistency recalls other high-profile cases where clubs have escaped on-pitch sanctions entirely. West Ham United were famously fined, but not expelled from the League Cup, after the cup-tied Manny Omoyinmi played against Aston Villa in 1999; the tie was simply replayed.

The Football League has backed itself into a corner.

By creating a new and harsher punishment for Torquay while applying an established one to Hereford for the exact same mistake in the same game, it has generated a profound inconsistency. Any attempt to rectify this through the appeals process will surely lead to further problems. Either the League must remain inconsistent between the two clubs involved, or it must act inconsistently with all the precedents it has previously set. There have been other instances of clubs naming too many loan players in a squad, such as Leeds United against Burnley in 2008, but in those cases the error was spotted and corrected before kick-off.

A Difficult Decision

With both Hereford and Torquay involved in battles at opposite ends of the table, the timing of this affair could hardly be more sensitive. The clubs are not expected to receive the league’s official reasoning for another seven days, after which they have 21 days to appeal. The final deadline for an appeal is Tuesday the 3rd of May, the very same day that the Alejandro Faurlin and Queens Park Rangers hearing is set to begin. The regular season finishes just four days after that.