Cymru Premier champions set for crucial hearing next week into alleged rule breaking

Cymru Premier League champions Connah’s Quay Nomads will discover a week today whether they suffer a hefty points deduction for allegedly fielding an ineligible player.

Following a charge against the Deeside club for an alleged breach of JD Cymru Premier rules, a date of Wednesday, March 2, been confirmed for the independent arbitration hearing.

Back-to-back league title winners Nomads have been charged for an alleged breach of Cymru Premier Rules 12.6(b) and 14.1.

Rule 12.6(b) relates to changes to a squad list and registration deadlines as referred to in Rule 12: ‘between the closure of the first Professional Registration Period and the opening of the second Professional Registration Period, a club may register a maximum of one new eligible player on List A after the above-mentioned deadlines, provided the quota of locally trained players is respected.’

Rule 14.1 states: ‘No club may play an ineligible player in any match. Any club which plays an ineligible player in a match will have three (3) points deducted from its record for that season (or in the case of a Play-Off Match, will forfeit the match) and will also be liable to a fine. If the player is a nominated but unused substitute for a match, he shall be deemed as not having played for the club in that match.’

The charge is reportedly in connection to the signings of Portuguese midfielder Paulo Mendes and former Wales international defender Neal Eardley.

It is alleged Nomads broke the rule by signing Eardley in October having already recruited Mendes outside of the transfer window. FAW rules allow only one signing outside of the window.

Nomads are believed to be insisting they signed Mendes on August 31 – within the transfer window.

If the charge against them is proven, Nomads face losing 18 points, which would drop them from the top six to next-to-bottom position for the second phase of the 2021-22 season.

The FAW has instructed London-based Sport Resolutions to administer next week’s hearing.

Sport Resolutions is a UK-based independent, not-for-profit, dispute resolution service for sport operating globally, offering arbitration, mediation, tribunal and expert opinion.