03 July, 2007: Formula Division News:

B36 Tórshavn awarded victory after inital 1-1 draw with Skála

When B36 and Skála drew 1-1 on May 13, B36 and the referee spotted after the match that Skála's Serbian player, Slavisa Kaplanovic, who had come on in the 81st minute, had not been written on the referee's team sheet (which is the duty of Skála to do).

At first, it was expected that this oversight would cost Skála a fee, but that the result would still stand, as the player that was missing on the team sheet was otherwise eligible to play and that Skála therefore had no motive to cheat with the team sheet.

But last night, B36 Tórshavn announced on their website that they had won their appeal against Skála, and that B36 had been awarded the victory with the score 0-0.

This verdict came as a surprise to most, as the rules for these "errare humanum est"-errors were changed after HB Tórshavn in 1983 lost the championship title due to a similar mistake.

The case then was that in a match between MB Miðvágur and HB, HB had two players with similar names; one called Jóannes Jakobsen and the other Johannes Ejdesgaard. Unfortunately for HB, they had written Jóannes Jakobsen twice on the referee's team sheet and had omitted the other one. HB won the game, with both players mentioned above on the field, but MB were subsequently awarded the victory, because of the error with the team sheet. These 2 lost points for HB (only 2 points were given for a win in 1983) meant that they lost the title to GÍ Gøta.

Skála have not made any official statement to the ruling yet, but they will undoubtedly appeal.

But for now, it means that B36 can add 2 points to their tally of 34 on the table which then takes them 4 points clear of NSÍ and 7 clear of EB/Streymur (who both have a game in hand, though).

But here comes the irony – and injustice? - of the decision: Skála, which is the team that is supposed to be punished, lose only 1 point. But NSÍ and EB/Streymur in effect lose 2 points, because that's what B36 gain in the table, for what was otherwise a fair and square 1-1 draw between B36 and Skála.

But if it is absolutely necessary to punish Skála for such a writing-mistake, why not take the point from Skála, but still not hand the other 2 points to B36? Does B36 deserve to earn points, because Skála is punished?

However, we'll see what happens when Skála, expectedly, appeal the verdict.

Update: August 03, 2007:

Skála win appeal
– B36 drop to 2nd place in the table

The Soccer Association's "Supreme Complaints Board" (that's the best translation I can do for the Faroese word "Yvirkærunevndin" - sounds stupid though:-) has overruled the Disciplinary Committee's ruling in the case between B36 Tórshavn and Skála, where B36 Tórshavn had been awarded a 0-0 victory because of an error in Skála´s "referee's team sheet", after the initial match had ended with a 1-1 draw (see details above).

The "Supreme Complaints Board" has now decided that the initial 1-1 result should stand. Instead, Skála have been given a DKK 10,000 fee (= $ 1,840) for their administrative "mishap", as the board deemed the mistake to have been purely accidental and that Skála had not tried to gain any advantage in omitting the player (who otherwise was eligible to play) from the referee's team sheet.

The board had also asked the Soccer Associations in Iceland, Denmark, Finland and Sweden what they would have done in similar incidents, and they all answered that they would have given a fine instead of changing the result of the match, for such an administrative error.

This means that B36 drops to 2nd in the table again, where they now trail NSÍ Runavík by 1 point. Skála on the other hand climb one place, from 6th to 5th.

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