The Diamonds originally won the game 1-0 over Albury United in September, however the result was reversed by the general purposes tribunal after United alleged that the Diamonds had fielded four ineligible players.

The case went to the appeals tribunal, who found that under the current rules and regulations, the four Diamonds players were, in fact, eligible to play in the Cup final.

The Border Mail understands a grey area in the rulebook allowed the four players, who had been regulars in the Diamonds’ senior men’s team, to play in the division three final because neither the Diamonds’ senior or reserves teams made the finals.

League president Simon Randall said the rules and regulations committee would be taking a look at the rules for eligibility in the division three competition.

“When an incident like this comes up, it’s certainly something that the rules and regulations committee is going to look at,” he said.

“The appeals tribunal took all the evidence they had available into consideration, they interpreted that the players were eligible to play in the final.

“In reference to the current rules and regulations, because the Diamonds’ seniors and reserves didn’t make the finals, those players then became eligible for division three.” 

There remains to be some confusion as to whether or not certain senior players of a certain age can play in the division three competition – something Randall was hoping to clear up in the near future.

“That grey area is something we're certainly going to be looking at,” he said.

“If the rules don't evolve, the game doesn't involve.

“Many of these rules and regulations have been in place for more than 20 years, some outlive their usefulness.

“Division three has been successful for a long time as a bridge between junior and senior football, but there are problems with making it exclusively an under-18 competition or otherwise.”

The league will hold its annual general meeting on December 4.