How do we stop 'cheating' where players are fielded inelligibly. I'm delighted to have Archie Coleman of Airdrie & Coatbridge Sunday AFL propose the Player ID scheme that they have adopted to reduce cheating in their league with some success.                                 

About 4 years ago the Airdrie & Coatbridge Sunday AFL league had to deal with teams playing unregistered players, junior players, ringers - you name it they tried it!


To try and combat this the Airdrie and Coatbridge league introduced a Player I.D. Cards system.


The way this worked was as follows;

At the start of the new season teams registering players have to provide 2 passport photos along with their registration form, one of which was kept on file by the Registration Secretary and the other one was laminated and given to the player’s Club Secretary.


Before every match, these Player ID cards are handed over to the opposition manager so that they can be checked against the team lines and also the player that is playing.

The team sheet also has a unique ID number that relates to the registration number of the signed player.


If no cards are available then the game shall not take place and the team will be invited to a disciplinary meeting concerning this matter where normally the tie would be awarded to the opposition.

If some cards are not available then the player or players can’t play in that match.

Lost cards can be made up again but at a cost to the club.


A further benefit of this system is that it also helps when a player pleads wrong identity when he is sent off as we ask the referee to our meeting and ask him to identify the player from the team’s I. D. cards.


When the new season starts, Teams can only sign 3 new players per month and this has to be done at the monthly meeting where they have to provide 2 passport photos to the registration secretary.


Also at the A.G.M all teams have to hand in ALL Player I.D. cards and they will be returned at the start of the new season if and when that player registers, no matter what team he decides to join that season and any new players signing we have to start from the top again.
The outcome is that since Player IDs have been introduced it has stopped ringers/cheats (what ever you want to call them) playing in the Airdrie and Coatbridge league - and we have not had a single protest on this matter as every team has benefited100% from the Player ID scheme.

For further information on this system, please contact Archie Coleman, Airdrie & Coatbridge Sunday AFL by email Archie.Coleman@fps-europe.com.

Thanks for your input Archie and it is good to see Leagues coming up with solutions to problems. I am sure your scheme could work across many leagues and is one the SAFA will look at it in due course.