Heidelberg United dodge points deduction disaster as appeals committee cuts Preston Lions’
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
After weeks of anxious waiting and more than a few whispered backroom deals, the Football Victoria Independent Appeals Committee finally handed down its verdict late last night on the ugly scenes that marred the NPL Victoria semi-final between Heidelberg United and Preston Lions at Olympic Village on 5 September.
The news the entire Greek Australian Greek football community had been hanging out for:
Heidelberg United’s three-point deduction for the 2026 season has been completely wiped. John Anastasiadis’ Bergers will start next year on zero – a massive bullet dodged.
The fines, however, are staying right where they are. $3,300 for the “flares and pyros” let off by a portion of their supporters. An extra $1,320 (12 penalty units) for breaching the MP10 spectator safety regulation.
Preston Lions have seen their original nine point deduction slashed to six points for 2026, with the remaining three suspended for the entire season. Stay clean, or they get slapped on as well. The financial penalties remain unchanged at $3,300 + $1,650, plus a club official must now complete mandatory behavioural education.
Make no mistake, Heidelberg United are the clear winners out of this appeals process. They’ve escaped a sanction that would have crippled their 2026 title push before a ball was even kicked, and they keep the moral high ground as the club whose players had to dodge potentially life threatening flares that night.
Which begs the big question everyone is asking: was the final splitting of responsibility actually fair?
Personally, I reckon Preston got away with an absolute steal. Flares landing centimetres from players, bottles and objects raining onto the pitch, supporters invading the field and the game stopped for more than ten minutes is not “just one of those things.” It was a dangerous, disgraceful shambles that endangered players from both sides.
Yet the penalty drops from nine points to six – with half of them on probation? It feels very much like the committee picked the comfortable middle path so they didn’t completely bury the Lions ahead of next season. Understandable politics, perhaps, but hardly justice.
Let’s hope the lesson finally sinks in. Australian football is already wears too many scars and carries too much baggage. We don’t need more self inflicted knife wounds. Scenes like those damage everyone, feed the knockers in the media, and keep our game stuck in the shadows.
It’s time to leave that rubbish in 2025. The football itself deserves better.
The original article: belongs to NEOS KOSMOS .
