By JARROD POTTER
INDEBTED soccer club Dandenong Wolves may have to find a new league to play in this season after Football Federation Victoria (FFV) revoked its affilation.
FFV issued a Friday deadline on a sizeable amount of money owed by the Dandenong Wolves FC, as the Noble Park-based club owes the Victorian soccer body over $11,000 – accrued since 2012 as debts piled up over missed payments for fines – and has subsequently been ejected from State League 4 South.
FFV removed all affected fixtures from its website on Tuesday and sent a letter to the clubs in State Leagues 4 and 5 about changes to the league composition after announcing the Wolves were withdrawn from the league.
“A month ago they said pay in full or we’re going to drop points off you (Wolves) for the season and then I think it was last week, one of our guys got in contact with them and they said we have to pay in full or we’re going to suspend you,” Dandenong Wolves president Sinan Akkurt said.
“We were after a payment plan and basically they didn’t accept the payment plan and this week basically I found out off another team.
“All our players and other teams were informed we were out before any of the guys in the committee.
“It was an unexpected shock to all of us – at least I thought they’d call us down for a meeting, but we’re still in negotiations with them as we speak.”
Akkurt said in his two years at the helm of the club the debt owed to FFV had reduced from $17,000 to $11,000 and – given a chance to work out another payment plan – the Wolves would abide by FFV’s terms.
“We’re not a club that are running away from our fines, we are prepared to go on a payment plan and when I first rocked up to the club there was a $17,000 debt,” Akkurt said.
“In the last two years if it’s gone down to nine-10-11 whatever it is, obviously there is some progress there – we put our head on the chopping block and say we will pay you our debt.
“Either kick us out – and you get nothing – or give us a payment plan and we’ll pay our debt.”
For a small club – only five years old – to raise that much money in such a short time though was always going to be extremely difficult Akkurt said.
He also thinks on top of the looming deadline for payment, the additional penalty of dropping the club down a division, even if it pays in full, is unfair and has discouraged some in the club from wanting to pay off the debt at all.
“For a local club with hardly any income in the off-season… they’re almost asking the impossible – they’ve put a gun to our head and said either pay or you’re out,” Akkurt said.
With the looming threat of suspension over the Wolves’ heads, Akkurt said he doesn’t know if players will stay with the club following suspension even if they move to alternate soccer competitions – Bayside Football Association or VicSoccer – which could mean the end of the club as a whole.
The uncertainty of the Wolves’ future has also affected the club’s junior girls’ and boys’ sides, who could be without a club nearing the end of the pre-season.
In a statement sent to the Journal on Thursday, Football Federation Victoria said the matter had reached a critical point and the organisation had no choice but to withdraw the Wolves from the league.
“FFV is extremely disappointed that the matter with Dandenong Wolves has reached the point it has,” the statement said.
“The club has owed money to FFV for a number of years now and despite numerous efforts to arrange payment including extended deadlines and payment plans, over $11,000 remains outstanding.
“As hard as it is to remove a club from our competitions, it eventually gets to a point where we have no choice.
“We have written to each player from the club informing them of the decision and offering our help to find another club in the area.”
