Altrincham given 18-point penalty

[Gaz]

Altrincham have had 18 points deducted by the Conference and have been fined £1,000 for fielding an ineligible player earlier this season.
The ruling would put the Robins bottom of the Conference and would almost certainly mean relegation.

James Robinson was ineligible when he made 13 appearances for Altrincham this season, scoring four times.

Altrincham are waiting to receive the decision in writing before deciding whether to appeal to the FA.

Robinson, 23, signed for the Moss Lane club from Accrington Stanley last November when he did not have international clearance after a spell in Iceland.

The player left Moss Lane in February to join Richmond Eagles in Australia.

"The problem only emerged because he went from us to Australia," an Altrincham spokesman said.

"The first we knew of the problem was when they (Richmond) came back to us and said they had discovered he was still registered to play in Iceland when he signed for Accrington."

The Altrincham spokesman continued: "As far as the club are concerned, the manager Graham Heathcote, and the chairman both want to speak to the players before saying anything more.

"The appeal needs to be made within two weeks, so we are expecting written confirmation of the punishment very soon."

[Kheffan]

there a lot more to this story. Originally the FA cleared Altrincham of any wrong doing , but the conference had their hands tied as to what they had to do if any team played any ineligable player. As Altrincham had gained 18 points while Robinson had played for them they had to be taken away as per rules.
The people at fault here are Accy as they hadn't passed on all relevent info (i believe they are about to be fined on this) but no points can be taken away from them.
the Confrence are blaming the FA ,as it their rules they have to abide by, so why did the FA clear them.
apparently its going to go back to the FA and Altrincham are hoping that the FA will come to an agreement what will hopefully will be to their benefit.
and also the conference are hoping also to amend the rules with the FA so things like this shouldn't arise again for the start of next season.
Apparently there has been a large petition raised even including the team (which i believe to be Southport) who were originally relegated until those points had been deducted. to reinstate Altrinchams points.

personally i hope Altrincham have a reprieve.