Towns South Hockey Club thrown out of finals and coach booted after tanking last game of season

The South West hockey side that tanked its final minutes to try and land an easier finals draw has been disqualified from the rest of the season and its coach booted from the club. Towns South Hockey Club were leading 4-2 in their most recent South West Hockey League game against Busselton’s Wests on August 19 when their coach instructed them to step aside and deliberately concede two goals. The act, which was labelled disgusting by the game’s umpire and life members, prompted a tribunal hearing on Thursday night, as well as separate Hockey WA and Hockey Australia investigations. In a statement on Friday, the SWHL confirmed the coach — Allan McGeoch — is “no longer associated” with the club and the team has been thrown out of finals. “An independent tribunal found the respondent to be the club, that the team coach’s actions were the club’s actions,” the statement read. “The tribunal found the offending team to be deemed ineligible for finals. “The Tribunal was satisfied... that a monetary penalty was not required.” In light of the tribunal’s verdict Hockey Australia said it would not be taking any further action. “Hockey Australia acknowledges the findings of the South West Hockey League tribunal and is satisfied the appropriate process has been followed,” its statement read. “The outcome reflects the seriousness of competition manipulation and that there is a zero tolerance approach to this in hockey at any form and at any level.” The TSHC issued a statement on Thursday night apologising for the incident and actions of Mr McGeoch. “The Towns Souths Hockey Club management committee would like to offer an unconditional apology for the actions taken by the South West Hockey League men’s team during Friday night’s game,” it stated. “There is no reasonable justification for the action which involved some players following a coaching directive to allow Wests to score two goals tangibly unopposed to draw the game. “The action taken violates both the Towns Souths Hockey Club and South West Hockey Association codes of conduct and is not congruent with the values of our club.” The SWHL said it acknowledged the public apology offered and personal responsibility taken by the coach involved. The match’s umpire, Jarrod Booth, told the South Western Times this week he was disgusted by the action. “They had just scored their fourth goal with about seven minutes to go and their coach yelled out to let them get two,” he said. “One guy went to tackle them and their whole team yelled at him to stop. “I didn’t know what I could do as an umpire, obviously I had never been in that situation before. “I thought it was rubbish. I was pretty disgusted.” Fixtures for the SWHL Men’s finals series are yet to be updated.